Flight Question Condition for fireball

[thepenguin]

Under some conditions, the re-entry effect appears for vessels moving through the atmosphere.

This effect appears regardless of whether or not there is an actual re-entry going on. (i.e. you are going fast at low altitude)

So I was wondering what the condition is for the giant fireball of death to appear. I presume that it has something to do with speed or drag, but I don't know the exact details (which would be nice to know if I wanted to avoid getting random fireballs as I fly...)

 

[Ripley]

You could start reducing your throttle...
:rofl:

 

[dgatsoulis]

Have a look in the Orbitersdk\Doc\API_Guide.pdf, page 12 section 1.7 "Rendering re-entry flames".

 

[thepenguin]

You could start reducing your throttle...
:rofl:

I knew somebody would say that. (this isn't about flying a DG, this is one of my own vessels. An F-16 is not usually supposed to have re-entry flames...)

Have a look in the Orbitersdk\Doc\API_Guide.pdf, page 12 section 1.7 "Rendering re-entry flames".

That's impressive. Thanks!

 

[ISProgram]

I actually came upon this effect just the other day. It confused the out of me.

Then it occurred to me. Is it possible that the fireball effect is created in response to conditions that would/could create a sonic boom? It would explain the F-16 anomaly you noticed and (possibly) my experience as well.

 

[Urwumpe]

I actually came upon this effect just the other day. It confused the out of me.

Then it occurred to me. Is it possible that the fireball effect is created in response to conditions that would/could create a sonic boom? It would explain the F-16 anomaly you noticed and (possibly) my experience as well.

No, the fireball is triggered by related, but different conditions. In Orbiter, it is aerodynamic heatflux exceeding a limit.

The sonic boom is created by approaching and exceeding the speed of sound.

The aerodynamic heatflux is simply velocity multiplied by dynamic pressure and is as such, simply the compression work applied on the air around the ship.

In reality, local conditions can cause fireballs to appear earlier than in Orbiter, while the required energy for causing a fireball is also a function of altitude.