History Main / FrictionlessReentry

* Averted in ''BattleStarGalactica|Reimagined'', where we get to see [[spoiler: The Galactica]] dropping through the atmosphere like a giant superheated rock in one episode as part of an AirstrikeImpossible.

* Averted in ''MassEffect2'', in which Shepard is quite badly ''killed'' by reentry by him/herself in a space suit. Of course, the space suit ensured s/he was intact enough to be rebuilt...

* If reentry is actually shown in the StargateVerse, the trope is usually averted. This is used to [[StargateSG1 SG-1]]'s advantage in "Nemesis" and "Enemies" to prevent the Replicators from gaining a foothold in the Milky Way.

* Averted in the [[PixarShorts ''Cars Toon'']] "Moon Mater", which is about [[{{Cars}} Mater]] becoming a moon rover as part of a moon mission to rescue an "autonaut" named [[PunnyName Impala XIII]], who was trapped inside a crater on the Moon. On the way back to Earth, Mater (while narrating) actually adds his friend Lightning McQueen into his story, since McQueen thinks that Mater is making things up. Lightning McQueen is portrayed here as a reentry probe, and as he is heading back toward Earth, his body starts to heat up rapidly because of friction, and as a result he start screaming "Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" before finally landing in the ocean and sighing in relief.

* ''{{Futurama}}'', unusually for a comedy series, does this right: When Bender the robot falls to Earth from space, he's hot enough to instantly melt snow several meters away.
** Dolomite in Futurama is incredibly heat resistant and tough. Bender is made of just enough that he can swim around in magma from the Earth's core for short periods and only be somewhat negatively affected. That dosen't explain how the backpack with a parachute in it survived re-entry however.
** In episode two their ship leaves the Earth's atmosphere in about a second.
*** One musn't forget that the ship's engine moves the universe around it. Apparently the movement of the universe doesn't generate friction.
*** Yes, their spaceship is, oddly enough, better designed for space travel than their bending robot.

* Currently played straight in ''KerbalSpaceProgram'', but the game is still in a [[ObviousBeta prototype stage]] and the developers want to add it as a feature later.
** Although, for players with the full (paid) version, [[http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/21050-0-17-Re-entry-Heat-Module-and-Mk-1-Pod-Heat-Shields/page6 there is a mod available]] that averts this.

** In Han Solo at Star's End, the Millennium Falcon uses its shields to offset the heat of entering the atmosphere of Duroon.

* ''{{Halo}}'' plays it straight and averts it. {{Drop Pod}}s burn up on re-entry as one would expect. Pelican dropships, on the other hand...

** Dolomite in Futurama is incredibly heat resistant and tough.Bender is made of just enough that he can swim around in magama from the earths core for short periods and only be somewhat negatively affected.That dosen't explain how the backpack with a parachute in it survived re-entry however.

*** One musn't forget that the ships engine moves the universe around it.Apparently the movement of the universe dosen't generate friction.

* Averted in ''StarslipCrisis'' when a recurring antagonist gets blown out an airlock by Vanderbeam, who was sick of the antagonist's recurrences: [[http://starslip.com/2010/07/02/vaporized/]]
* Averted and discussed in {{Freefall}}.

* Averted in ''MobileSuitGundam,'' given the RealRobot setting of the series. In the first case, Zeon forces don't actually expect the Gundam to be able to make it through reentry...because their own Zakus ''can't'', which is demonstrated by the unlucky pilot Crown and his Zaku melting and shedding parts when he can't make it back to the Musai. The Gundam surprises the Zeon forces by deploying a 'heatproof film' and surviving to make landfall.
** ''MobileSuitZetaGundam'' also does this to another minor named pilot as a point of character development for [[TheRival Jerid Messa]]. His friend, Kacricon, had attempted to defeat the Gundam MKII by using Earth's field gravity to his advantage. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard That didn't go over so well]], and with its heat shield is destroyed, his Marasai burned up in the atmosphere.
** [[MobileSuitGundamSEED Kira Yamato]] is forced to try to re-enter in the Aile Strike as he deployed to defend the Archangel and shuttles shortly before their re-entry. His shield melts up before the Archangel (which deploys a similar heatproof film as the White Base) maneuvers to catch it atop one of its legs. This saves Kira from the worst of it, but he's still cooked inside the Strike and suffers for it once they make planet-side.

It's fairly common for fiction to ignore this little inconvenient fact, because it means characters and impractically designed spaceships can get off a planet without burning up. It simply doesn't include an atmosphere. In some cases, AppliedPhlebotinum is used, or the ship simply slows down during reentry to avoid burning up. The later isn't necessarily too unrealistic for a ship which is using nuclear engines, or otherwise doesn't need to worry about fuel (or balancing fuel consumption with arrival time). If you have enough of energy, cooling and propellant (the latter two are still needed until the air itself becomes dense enough to be useful), you can move as slowly as you want, but "enough" here is ''really big''. The issue for all current orbital spacecraft is that they need to use most of their fuel to lift fuel (not crew or payload) to the altitude where it will be burned, and a ship that used its engines to slow down would be much more expensive since it'd have to carry '''even more''' fuel.

*** This may be a case of an [[InvokedTrope Invocation]] of an [[AvertedTrope Aversion]], since [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU]] materials seem to indicate ships normally don't glow on reentry. YourMileageMayVary, but the logic is "ships don't glow" → "object glows" → "object is not a ship".

* Averted very hard indeed in {{Use Of Weapons}}. When a [[TheCulture Culture]] module wants to make a swift getaway from a planet's surface, it displaces ([[TeleportersAndTransporters teleports]]) away the air in front of it to behind it as fast as it's moving. It thus makes a multi-mach trip to orbit through a nice, frictionless, self-created vacuum. Of course, {{The Culture}} are {{Sufficiently Advanced Aliens}}.

** Also comes up in the final battle of MacrossFrontier [[TheMovie Sayonara no Tsubasa]] when its commented that the Macross Quarter will burn up if they enter the atmosphere at full speed. So they make sure to get behind a large piece of debris to use as a heat shield. [[CrazyAwesome Then they proceed to]] [[SkySurfing ''sky surf it'']].

* In ''[[{{Elite}} Frontier: First Encounters]]'' either your ship has Atmospheric Shielding installed (and it's tough enough to work as armor) or the next reentry will end rather [[StuffBlowingUp prematurely and spectacularly]].

It's fairly common for fiction to ignore this little inconvenient fact, because it means characters and impractically designed spaceships can get off a planet without burning up. It simply doesn't include an atmosphere. In some cases, AppliedPhlebotinum is used, or the ship simply slows down during reentry to avoid burning up. The later isn't necessarily too unrealistic for a ship which is using nuclear engines, or otherwise doesn't need to worry about fuel (or balancing fuel consumption with arrival time). The issue for all current orbital spacecraft is that they need to use most of their fuel to lift fuel (not crew or payload) to the altitude where it will be burned, and a ship that used its engines to slow down would be much more expensive since it'd have to carry '''even more''' fuel.

It's fairly common for fiction to ignore this little inconvenient fact, because it means characters and impractically designed spaceships can get off a planet without burning up. It simply doesn't include an atmosphere. In some cases, AppliedPhlebotinum is used, or the ship simply slows down during reentry to avoid burning up.

* Somewhat averted in The ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]": [[spoiler: The [[SpaceSailing Titanic]] is glowing when crashing to Earth; however, this is no longer visible when it nearly (or in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E11TurnLeft Turn Left]]", actually) hits Buckingham Palace.]]