Difference between revisions of "Heat shield"

Revision as of 20:09, 29 September 2016

A heat shield is a part which protects shielded parts from overheating. almost all heat shields, excluding the Heat Shield (10m) work as ablative heat shields. This means each has a certain amount of ablative material, ablator, which slowly breaks apart carrying heat away. All of the heat shields currently in the game have a maximum temperature of 3,400 Kelvin and an impact tolerance of 9 m/s. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended to use them on capsules which are expected to return from 55 km or higher.

In version 1.1 the Heat Shield (10m) was added. This is the game's first inflatable heat shield. The part begins as a 2.5m component that inflates into a 10m diameter heat shield with a maximum temperature of 3,500 Kelvin.

Note that these can not only be used for atmospheric reentry, but also to separate a heat-sensitive stack from a heat-generating stage like an engine cluster.

All three of the ablative heat shields resemble the heat shield of the Orion MPCV.

As of 1.1, all heat shields can be jettisoned.

In 1.2 a smaller 0.625m heat shield was added.

Image	Part	Radial size	Cost ()	Mass (t)	Max. Temp. (K)	Tolerance (m/s)	Tolerance (g)	Ablator
	Heat Shield (0.625m)	Tiny	150 (125)	0.075 (0.025)	3 300	9	50	50
	Heat Shield (1.25m)	Small	300 (200)	0.3 (0.1)	3 300	9	50	200
	Heat Shield (2.5m)	Large	600 (200)	1.3 (0.5)	3 300	9	50	800
	Heat Shield (3.75m)	Extra large	1100 (200)	2.8 (1.0)	3 300	9	50	1 800
	Heat Shield (10m)	Large / 10m	2 400	1.5	3 500 (3 250)	9	50	—