Surviving death defying falls using EVA Propellant?

[XBRD47X]

Has anyone tried to use EVA propellant to survive a fall? I did it from 50,000 meters and it worked. I have alot of mods installed but i would imagine it would work in the standard game version as well.

[XBRD47X]

Surprisingly I first discovered this out of desperation when an experimental plane erupted into an explosive cloud. I have tested it many times since and it seems to work. Note that at 50,000m you must be going slower than 1600m/s or you may burn up. Maybe its faster but 1600 should be safe under 100% re entry burn settings.

[Just Jim]

I was only about 1000 meters up, but one time Val was doing an EVA she lost hold of the jet and began falling. But before I reverted the flight, I hit the EVA pack and just held the EVA up key until she hit the ground. She bounced pretty hard, but got back up and walked away!

[XBRD47X]

I did an eva report at 20,000m during a free fall and it said 'your situation is precarious' lol.

[steve.neverslept]

Not sure in the latest version of the game but a Kerbal in EVA status could survive reentry as long as they hit something soft (ie the sea) pretty realiably.

[Aragosnat]

Originally posted by steve.neverslept:

Not sure in the latest version of the game but a Kerbal in EVA status could survive reentry as long as they hit something soft (ie the sea) pretty realiably.

Not anymore. Re-entry = BBQ Kerbal.

[steve.neverslept]

Originally posted by Aragosnat:

Originally posted by steve.neverslept:

Not sure in the latest version of the game but a Kerbal in EVA status could survive reentry as long as they hit something soft (ie the sea) pretty realiably.

Not anymore. Re-entry = BBQ Kerbal.

Thought that would be the case with the physics overhaul.

[Lorax]

Val fell from 35000 feet when i ripped my chutes off do to a miss click during reentry. She lived using the jet pack.

[95Bravo95]

This is a well known, and some say it's most likely by design. Has long has they don't burn up, they quite often survive, even without the jetpack. They're almost invincible if they land on their heads.

I haven't checked post 1.03, but you used to be able to bring them back from orbit, quite easily, without the protection of a capsule. I've heard elsewhere that they burn up now though. Just been to busy to try it for myself.

[Raincloud Man]

I actually put Jebediah down on the mun with the EVA pack after his capsule ran out of fuel 50k meters up.

[wren]

EVA from Mass Relay at 70k works if you expend all your EVA fuel, and go headfirst into water.

[Scourge012]

Random fun fact: Kerbal EVA jetpacks have 600 Delta-V worth of fuel in them. So as long as a landing can be accomplished with 600 Delta-V the Kerbal can do it on their own, no vehicle required.

In the early days of Career mode, when it was just science, people would put a capsule in orbit of Minmus then deorbit the Kebal, do all the sciencey things, then rendevous with the capsule on the next orbit. Using this method they were able to continually refuel the jet pack at no cost and it is possible to hit every Minmus biome, assuming you have the intestinal fortitude to do something so tedious.

There's no real reason why this won't work today.

As far as falling down on Kerbin...I don't think it has to do with the jetpack. On Kerbin the jetpack has exactly 0 Delta-V because it is unable to lift the kerbal even a centimeter off the ground. It is likely your Kerbal survived because they landed on their helmet. The helmet is made out of flubber, apparently--seriously, land on the helmet and they can survive practically anything provided they didn't burn up.

[Raincloud Man]

Originally posted by I Should Be Nice More Often:

EVA from Mass Relay at 70k works if you expend all your EVA fuel, and go headfirst into water.

Someone really needs to make a mod that adds a frozen over mass relay in orbit around Eeloo.

[FourGreenFields]

Originally posted by Scourge012:

As far as falling down on Kerbin...I don't think it has to do with the jetpack. On Kerbin the jetpack has exactly 0 Delta-V because it is unable to lift the kerbal even a centimeter off the ground. It is likely your Kerbal survived because they landed on their helmet. The helmet is made out of flubber, apparently--seriously, land on the helmet and they can survive practically anything provided they didn't burn up.

You do know that to reduce speed below terminal velocity, you don't need a thrust to weight ratio of above 1, right?

[Roadkill]

I've had a few Kerbals fall from great heights and survive. Had no idea the trick was to make them faceplant.

Still, as far as Minmus goes, you can build a rover with a Gigantor solar panel and a ion thruster and cover the bulk of Minmus with a little Xenon. Since Minmus had such low gravity you can scoot along the ground on wheel (or fly) from place to place.

[XBRD47X]

I have been hitting feet first with the EVA trick so it isnt the helmets. Or, at least not in my case.