Engine = heat shield?

[rav]

SO i went to my first venture to minmus, only when it was way too late i noticed i forgot to put a decoupler on my heatshield so the fueltank + engine would stick to my landing pot.

Lucky me the engine absorbed all the heat and i made it down safely.

i do get that engines need to withstand a lot of heat but should they be able to absorb the heat of a pod that goes over 2000 m/s into the atmosphere?

[AoD_lexandro]

The engines have to be naturally heat resistant and good at disapating heat or they would explode when turned on.

[Silly Cat]

yeah for that reason i didnt install heatshields on my pods for the first 10 missions i did or something.
at first i thought heat shields are pointless, but no... if your speed is too fast a engine wont be enough, ^^

[rav]

Originally posted by Yacc | BLACK LEGION:

yeah for that reason i didnt install heatshields on my pods for the first 10 missions i did or something.
at first i thought heat shields are pointless, but no... if your speed is too fast a engine wont be enough, ^^

i was reentering atmosphere with about 2500 m/s i would consider that pretty fast for a planetary re entry

[Silly Cat]

Originally posted by rav:

Originally posted by Yacc | BLACK LEGION:

yeah for that reason i didnt install heatshields on my pods for the first 10 missions i did or something.
at first i thought heat shields are pointless, but no... if your speed is too fast a engine wont be enough, ^^

i was reentering atmosphere with about 2500 m/s i would consider that pretty fast for a planetary re entry

you could be way faster like >3000 m/s and it also matter how steep you are coming in. :)
but if you are careful you basically dont need a heatshield atleast
if you are transistoning from another planet it might be different (havent done this yet since they added heathsields)

[Washell]

Engine has a lot of mass, which means you have a lot more kinetic energy you need to get rid off, which leaves less room for error. If you come in to steep, you'll burn up in the lower atmosphere or crash into the ground.

[maj.solo]

engines are good cause they are heavy and make the ship point in the right direction.
when they are about to overheat just burn a little fuel to lower the speed.
Use drogue chutes to slow down so you can deply the big chutes.

It really seems heat shields are not necessary as long as you bring some fuel to help with the landing. If you do not have any fuel left onboard you can always make a very very careful aerobraking.

I really don't see the need for heat shields. And I want to land the entire ship in one piece anayways so I get 100% refunded for each and every part.