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[jocan2003]

Any hints for deisning proper SSTO spaceplanes? I get alot of tumbling because of changes in the center of mass wich is quite annoying.

I found out the best way to have a stable SSTO is to put the center of lift BEHIND the center of mass. This way it will ease up when fuel move around or get depleted. Also the VFM mod might help you since it allow you to move fuel around really easy and even set wich tank are depleted first. Also all fuel transfer follow the burn ration too. As long you tell it to move fuel AND oxidizer...

Having the center of lift behind the center of mass might give you trouble during take off, what you could do is snap on some landing gear in the front of your ship that you will jettison as soon you lift off so your nose is higher than your tail. Ugly but functional. Its all about finding the sweet spot for your design. What can help you is put those flipping flap on the nose of your ssto to help give if lift when needed but dont actually lift much while resting ( not maneuvring ).

[forsaken1111]

Am I the only person who straps their spaceplanes to a big rocket booster for initial launch?

[alway]

Well yeah, but it's not exactly SSTO if it has multiple stages, now is it?

[forsaken1111]

Well yeah, but it's not exactly SSTO if it has multiple stages, now is it?

I never said it was an SSTO.

It IS a reusable launcher though that drops away and parachutes safely to the ground.

[Lightningfalcon]

My only succesful spaceplane so far was a glider that is dropped from a rocket at high altitudes.  I say glider because I accidently put a jet fuel fuselage in instead of a liquid fuel, and was too lazy to replace it.  Once it got to within 10,000 meters it dropped like a rock thou.

[jocan2003]

Am I the only person who straps their spaceplanes to a big rocket booster for initial launch?

Well i do like to hae either fuel droptank or a rocket booster to get the initial velocity required for take-off before end of runway, just for the small Mphhff it gives, or well fuel tank if i want to aquire much more m/s while in athmosphere and dump them just before going balistic orbital.

[forsaken1111]

Am I the only person who straps their spaceplanes to a big rocket booster for initial launch?

Well i do like to hae either fuel droptank or a rocket booster to get the initial velocity required for take-off before end of runway, just for the small Mphhff it gives, or well fuel tank if i want to aquire much more m/s while in athmosphere and dump them just before going balistic orbital.

No... I meant that I build my spaceplane and then strap it to a big damn rocket which launches vertically. Once it is at the target altitude I separate and the launch vehicle parachutes to safety while the plane flies on.

[Girlinhat]

Am I the only person who straps their spaceplanes to a big rocket booster for initial launch?

Well i do like to hae either fuel droptank or a rocket booster to get the initial velocity required for take-off before end of runway, just for the small Mphhff it gives, or well fuel tank if i want to aquire much more m/s while in athmosphere and dump them just before going balistic orbital.

No... I meant that I build my spaceplane and then strap it to a big damn rocket which launches vertically. Once it is at the target altitude I separate and the launch vehicle parachutes to safety while the plane flies on.

That doesn't make it very much of a 'plane' then does it?  At least in the sense of calling the space shuttle a plane, then.

[forsaken1111]

Am I the only person who straps their spaceplanes to a big rocket booster for initial launch?

Well i do like to hae either fuel droptank or a rocket booster to get the initial velocity required for take-off before end of runway, just for the small Mphhff it gives, or well fuel tank if i want to aquire much more m/s while in athmosphere and dump them just before going balistic orbital.

No... I meant that I build my spaceplane and then strap it to a big damn rocket which launches vertically. Once it is at the target altitude I separate and the launch vehicle parachutes to safety while the plane flies on.

That doesn't make it very much of a 'plane' then does it?  At least in the sense of calling the space shuttle a plane, then.

It's a space plane. It flies about with wings and lift and all the things that planes use. It just happens to take off via rocket first.

I tried again to make a proper VTOL using rotating engines via damned robotics mod. Its really really hard to balance it all out.

[Sean Mirrsen]

That doesn't make it very much of a 'plane' then does it?  At least in the sense of calling the space shuttle a plane, then.

The Shuttle is a spaceplane. It is space-capable (i.e. it maneuvers and deorbits on its own), and does more than just drop to the ground on parachutes, even if it flies rather like a brick. Therefore, space-plane. Buran was more of a space-glider, but a glider is still a kind of plane, so.

[Girlinhat]

I suppose if you want to mince semantics.  Still, when people really talk 'spaceplanes' they talk 'it's a plane that can get to super-high altitudes and then stabilize an orbit' and if your 'plane' launches on booster rockets straight up, then it's really just a rocket with a funny looking payload.

The real distinction, I suppose, it how it gains altitude.  The space shuttle is most definitely a rocket.  What it does once it's got altitude doesn't matter quite as much, though it would be nice if it could stop being a spaceship and become an airplane again.

[ank]

                                        "Is it a spaceplane?" Flowchart:

                                             Does it look like a plane?
                                           |                                 |
                                         Yes                               No
                                           |                                 |
                          Does it go to space today?           Not a spaceplane
                             |                          |
                           Yes                        No
                             |                          |
                 It is a spaceplane!         Not a spaceplane

[Sean Mirrsen]

What you're thinking of is an SSTO Spaceplane. Not simply an SSTO (since a rocket that goes up and orbits in one piece is one too) and not just a Spaceplane (since any aerodynamically-controlled craft that lands on a runway is one as well), but an SSTO Spaceplane. The Space Shuttle is a spaceplane with oversized dual RATOs and a huge drop tank. Not an SSTO because of the rocket-assist and the drop tank, but a spaceplane nonetheless.

[sneakey pete]

Everyone forgetting that one the US air force has now too which gets chucked up there on a Atlas.

Space planes are basically planes that can operate in a vacuum

[Supercharazad]

Everyone forgetting that one the US air force has now too which gets chucked up there on a Atlas.

Space planes are basically planes that can operate in a vacuum

Not at all. A space plane is a vehicle that can both manoever in space and perform a runway landing. Planes don't work like planes in space.