Atmospheric entry with probes

[Jabroni Slayr]

So I've got a couple probes being sent off to the deeper regions of space and planned on doing some aerobraking and maybe land on Laythe at some point but then something struck me that I'm a little unsure of and can't seem to find any info on.

If you're areobraking or landing with probes, how do you enter the atmosphere without tearing off the commucations antenna if it's open? If you close them to save being ripped off, you won't be able to get them open again? So what am I missing here?

[Venorek]

Use an antenna that doesn't extend?? Or make sure there are some commsats in low orbit of whatever body you're landing on, so can just use the base antenna on the probe core.

[Shenji]

For the second question, there are some possible situations:
the power was drained dry while you performing aero brake maneuvers; or the comm link was lost after you retracted the antenna.
If it was power, then just add more power sources. If the second, then you need a relay probe in range(pretty close to your lander since the default antenna was quite under-powered).

For the first question, I need to run some tests after I come back to home. I'll try to figure out some solutions if there still none(but unlikely).

[Jabroni Slayr]

I'm pretty sure all communication antennas have to be "extended" to function and I know as soon as I retract it I'll lose commmuncation forever and not be able to redeploy. You'd think they would implement some type of function to hibernate the antenna's like the probe cores. That function seems entirely pointless with the cores since the only benefit is to draw less power and they draw an insignificant amount as it is as long as you have even one solar pannel.

Anyways I managed to aerobrake at a high enough altitude around Eve to avoid tearing the antenna off and actually captured with some well timed engine thrust so I think I'll be fine with any other aerobraking but landing is likely out of the question until I get some relays around the other planets.

[SievertChaser]

RemoteTech user here, without RT's recently added feature of being able to engage antennae without having a connection, the two only options are fixed dishes and SmartParts timer or altimeter triggers.

[George Kerman]

The actual question is, why do you actually need a connection to perform aerobraking/ landing? Just retro hold without a connection (or whichever direction you have the sield on, usually retro), easy as pie (and fast z/x key combos for lil bit of thrust if needed). You can also take off and actually get into orbit with prograde hold at the right altitude up, depending on the planet (it's inefficient but works).

[Shenji]

All but one direct antennas need to extend before establish comm links, it's on the right of the first antenna, I forgot the name, maybe a '16' in it.
And all relay antennas, except the HG-5, don't need to extend. But of course there's no reason to put a relay antenna on a lander for sure.

[Jabroni Slayr]

Originally posted by George van Doorn:

The actual question is, why do you actually need a connection to perform aerobraking/ landing?

I play with no probe control without comms, not limited control. It's just more realistic.

Originally posted by Shenji:

All but one direct antennas need to extend before establish comm links, it's on the right of the first antenna, I forgot the name, maybe a '16' in it.
And all relay antennas, except the HG-5, don't need to extend. But of course there's no reason to put a relay antenna on a lander for sure.

I think the di-pole one works without being extended but the range on that is far, far less than would be needed for beyond Kerbin's SOI. Basically sounds like I should have brought a relay with me. Lesson learned!

Thanks for the input, all.

[SievertChaser]

Originally posted by Shenji:

And all relay antennas, except the HG-5, don't need to extend. But of course there's no reason to put a relay antenna on a lander for sure.

Welcome to 1.2's derpy Comms.

Originally posted by George van Doorn:

The actual question is, why do you actually need a connection to perform aerobraking/ landing? Just retro hold without a connection (or whichever direction you have the sield on, usually retro), easy as pie (and fast z/x key combos for lil bit of thrust if needed). You can also take off and actually get into orbit with prograde hold at the right altitude up, depending on the planet (it's inefficient but works).

Yeah, I found it pretty weird too. I was under the impression that the system is very, very soft.

[SievertChaser]

Originally posted by Jabroni Slayr:

Originally posted by George van Doorn:

The actual question is, why do you actually need a connection to perform aerobraking/ landing?

I play with no probe control without comms, not limited control. It's just more realistic.

It's not realistic without SmartParts and RT's Flight Computer. And MechJeb, for good measure!

[Shenji]

Alright, I run some tests, confirmed you can put an antenna inside a service bay(with bay-door closed), and you can still get comm link if in range and powered. I also put an HG-2 relay antenna inside the service bay and everything looks fine. HG-2 is quite compact and doesn't need to deploy/extend before connecting, then I guess there is at least one reason to attach a relay antenna on the lander, if you can manage the weight/power things. Actually you can put others inside the service bay, but there are always some parts exposing outside the closed bay door. Since I am a very demanding person, I don't like this kind of imperfection. But it runs okay. Just looks not good for me.

[Jabroni Slayr]

Hmm never thought to configure one inside a service bay so that could work in the future since relays add quite a bit of weight.

Turns out I wasn't the first person to come across this though and there is a mod for exactly what I described. It's called "AntennaSleep" for anyone who might be interested, basically lets you delay opening the antenna for a predetermined amount of time. Haven't tried it out yet but it sounds promising.

[gjrfytn]

Thanks for relay antenna tip! Made like 15 attempts to land with deployable...