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[buckets]

I don't mean to be rude, but isn't your space plane just a rocket with winglet? A fully-reusable rocket yes, but especially the landing doesn't seem very planey to me.

I think Twi said something about not bothering to land it properly, so it could be potentialy very planey.

I used to use something like it all the time. It's a cross between a spaceplane and a rocket, you get to fly about on reentry and you don't have to worry about your jet engines getting a little wonky if you go too high.

[Sheb]

So it's basically a space shuttle. Did anyone made a copy of the space shuttle? Complete with random bout of explosions?

[Aseaheru]

the people who are making Day-Z did.
as a mod...

[Twi]

I don't mean to be rude, but isn't your space plane just a rocket with winglet? A fully-reusable rocket yes, but especially the landing doesn't seem very planey to me.

I think Twi said something about not bothering to land it properly, so it could be potentialy very planey.

I used to use something like it all the time. It's a cross between a spaceplane and a rocket, you get to fly about on reentry and you don't have to worry about your jet engines getting a little wonky if you go too high.

Yeah, it's pretty much a mini-space shuttle. And the landing method was actually a bit of an accident: I couldn't really fit anything but radial parachutes on that readily, and I didn't intend for it to go belly-up like that, but I liked the result (perfect landing every time!) so I kept using it.

And trust me, I've had plenty of experience with jet planes. I have two different semi-decent-looking designs one decent, Aeris-type design and one giant jet engine cluster with rocketry strapped on literally as an afterthought for SSTO at the moment. And also two designs that failed. The Svetlana, more or less a giant delta wing, can pretty much plane but is too unstable to space. And the Molniya looked awesome but is plagued by takeoff issues.

EDIT: Actually, this second design, slightly reworked, is looking promising. What I need to do is figure out how, when and where to transition from jet to rocket.
If I can do it, though, I got three Kerbals into space. On a plane. :3

[DrPoo]

It is perfectly possible to make descent SSTO's that arent spaceplanes, i use those for hauling between mun surface and orbit. I could make a SSTO capable of landing anywhere.

Like a personal rocket of sorts.

Powered landings are really fun

[Twi]

It is perfectly possible to make decent SSTO's that arent spaceplanes, i use those for hauling between mun surface and orbit. I could make a SSTO capable of landing anywhere.

Like a personal rocket of sorts.

Powered landings are really fun

Well yeah, but mun orbit is easier than Kerbin. And obviously has no atmosphere. Rocket-type Kerbin SSTO's are not my personal agenda at the moment. Though they might be eventually.

Powered landings ARE enjoyable, though.

[Twi]

Curse you, lack of posting, making me double post!
Ah, well.  Have the Saga of Twi's Attempts to Spaceplane. Most of which fail.
Plan 1: Mount your rocket on front of a jet! This was brought to my mind by both TheWinterOwl and my dad.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

_{*your montage here*}

Spoiler:  Results (click to show/hide)

_{I'm making a note here...}

Huge success! At least in the orbitability department. Reusability could be improved. The launch vehicle can never make a quite perfect landing. It comes pretty close, though.
Also note the radial engines added to Laika, so I can have extra thrust at low cost in weight. Because the LV-909 is wimpy.

Plan 2: Laika is so tiny! Let's do that with a bigger spaceplane!

Spoiler:  The 'Kaguya' spaceplane (click to show/hide)

_{What? I like Touhou, and animeish stuff in general.}

Spoiler:  Results (click to show/hide)

 

It works- but barely. Too close for my comfort.

Plan 3: Don't you have that actual spaceplane from before?

Spoiler:  Asuna spaceplane (not to be confused with Asuna aeroplane) (click to show/hide)

_{MOAR POWER}

Spoiler:  Result (click to show/hide)

_ahhhhhh

Conclusion: The Asuna is about as aerodynamic as the F-4 Phantom and about as likely to go to space today. Or ever.

Plan 4: Well then why don't you make a better one?

Spoiler:  Eirin (click to show/hide)

_{sadly not going back to the moon today. Another flight, Lunarian.}

Result: No image found.
I'm not very good at spaceplaning. Also, flameouts make you die.

Plan 5: Download the Hooligan Labs airship mod and strap your plane to a balloon!
...I can do better.

Spoiler:  The pictures speak for themselves (click to show/hide)

_{Fuck yes.}

Conclusion: A promising test! Of course, this sort of design would not happen in real life, because balloons have a nasty habit of popping when surrounded by vacuum. On the other hand, it has seen at least some consideration down at more reasonable altitudes as a heavy cargo carrier.

Also, mounting your jet engines close to the central axis turns out to immensely help with flameout issues.

[alexandertnt]

Going to Eeloo with rovers:

Spoiler: The ridiculous take-off rocket (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Changing orbit to intersect (click to show/hide)

I had to transfer fuel from the rovers to use for landing since I accidently bumped into the ground and accidently turned on ASAS (before I realised I was moving way too fast sideways and had to slow down). There was no fuel left for the rovers

Spoiler: Trying to land (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Success (click to show/hide)

However, the RSC thruster I put on them provided enough thrust to move at about 10m/s and get 12k from the landing site.

Spoiler: Somewhere on Eeloo (click to show/hide)

[forsaken1111]

I wish someone would make nuclear radial mounted engines that looks similar or identical to the normal radial mounted engines, because they can be used to make somewhat-futuristic craft.

You can just radial mount an engine nacelle and put a nuclear engine on that. Thats what I do.

[tryrar]

...Goddamit, is this game available anywhere else but the site? I don't have a card at the moment...

[Graknorke]

No, it's only available on the site. They're the ones who sell it.

[Dutchling]

...Goddamit, is this game available anywhere else but the site? I don't have a card at the moment...

I don't think so. But you can pay with paypal..

Assuming you haven't tried it yet: there is also a demo.

[Sirus]

...Goddamit, is this game available anywhere else but the site? I don't have a card at the moment...

I got KSP by purchasing a non-reloadable debit card with cash and using that. See if you can try that.

[Twi]

Welp, have more of Twi's Continued Attempts to Get Into Space More Or Less Horizontally, part two. Or...something.

First, the fruits of that test from before:

Spoiler:  Patchouli? (click to show/hide)

_{Probably full of books. And possibly Koa.}

Put rockets on hybrid airship.

Spoiler: Results (click to show/hide)

Suborbital in one stage! Improvement, to be sure. But I realized that I had too much jet fuel and not enough rocket fuel. So I tried again...

Spoiler: Patchouli 2 (click to show/hide)

_{I put on my robe and wizard hat...}

Spoiler:  Result (click to show/hide)

Still suborbital.

I figured I had too much mass and made a smaller version:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Suffice to say it did not go to space today.

Then I decided to try something completely different: launch a Laika-type rocketplane from an airship already at high speeds and altitudes.

Spoiler:  Maou Yuusha (click to show/hide)

_{The big airship on the top is Maou ('Demon King'), the rocketplane on the bottom is Yuusha ('Hero'). This is, of course, in reference to Maouyuu Maou Yuusha, which is an animu that's kinda like Spice and Wolf in that it has economics and romance, but on a much grander scale. Fun stuff.}

Sadly, I ran into controllability issues, forcing me to release Yuusha much earlier than planned. Thus leading to:

Spoiler:  I went to space today, but only just. (click to show/hide)

Also, the landing was suboptimal. :<

So then I did funky things. Namely, strapped a redesigned Yuusha to a big old balloon thing and just lifted it waaaay up. After all, if you can't get speed, you can still get altitude.

Spoiler: Woo! (click to show/hide)

As you can see, it worked! Well, it was a little close for comfort, but still.
Plus, I got to land the thing, which was an adventure in itself:

Spoiler: Landing these things is slow. (click to show/hide)

In conclusion, I take too many screenshots.

[Dutchling]

I just saved a Kerbal from a rocket crash.
How? Powered jetpack landing o_O. Did not expect that to work. Too bad there were two Kerbals in the rocket :c.