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[IronTomato]

So everyone thinks that SSTOs are all the rage, but I have to wonder, has anyone ever built a multistage space plane? Not a shuttle style space plane or a plane on top of a rocket, but something with rocket engines which takes off like a plane, can drop a stage (or several) in midair and continue flying as a plane until it gets to orbit.

I imagine balancing would be the most difficult challenge, but it should be possible. I kind of want to try making one now. Bonus points if the spent stages are capable of gliding to a safe landing on their own.

My spaceplanes always have 2 stages. I think the reason people like SSTOs is because of how easily they can land somewhere and take off into space again.

A while back, I remember dropping one of those infinigliders off of a probe into Laythe. It's the only craft I've ever flown around Laythe.

[Greiger]

I like spaceplanes because they are closest to those far future sci-fi spacecraft that can take off from one place, get into space like it was nothin, and fly around in space.

They also help me with targeted reentry because they tend to have liquid fuel left after they run out of oxidiser and I can fly it back to the KSC if I miss by a little bit.

I did build a few spaceplanes with something akin to droptanks on the wings before, which I suppose would make it a multistage spaceplane, but they tended to mess with my balance too much after they were dropped either making the plane too hard to fly while they were attached or too hard to fly after they were dropped.

[BFEL]

You know what is massively fun? Turning on infinite fuel and seeing if you can control one of those launch escape system things into space.


EDIT: So just had my first Mun landing in IRONKERBAL MODE. The result?:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

EDIT2: GAH FUCK YOU KSP! THE SAME GODDAMN THING JUST HAPPENED ON MINMUS BECAUSE I TIPPED OVER AND IT SEPERATED MY FUCKING USELESS COMMAND POD FROM THE REST OF THE SHIP. I HAD FULL FUCKING FUEL GODDAMIT! WHY IS KERBAL WELDING SO USELESS? AND WHY THE SHIT WAS MY NAVBALL TELLING ME THE WRONG PERIAPSE DIRECTION? GAH FUCK YOU MOST OF ALL NAVBALL!!!

[BigD145]

EDIT2: GAH FUCK YOU KSP! THE SAME GODDAMN THING JUST HAPPENED ON MINMUS BECAUSE I TIPPED OVER AND IT SEPERATED MY FUCKING USELESS COMMAND POD FROM THE REST OF THE SHIP. I HAD FULL FUCKING FUEL GODDAMIT! WHY IS KERBAL WELDING SO USELESS? AND WHY THE SHIT WAS MY NAVBALL TELLING ME THE WRONG PERIAPSE DIRECTION? GAH FUCK YOU MOST OF ALL NAVBALL!!!

PEBKAC + mods
Good job.

Next time design bottom heavy craft not top heavy ones and do not ever weld command anything.

[BFEL]

It WAS bottom heavy. And I didn't actually weld anything, I meant why is it possible for a command pod to just pop off the rocket like that? I mean it wasn't even moving that fast!

Basically what happened was I was moving horizontally at like 7 m/s and the navball was telling me the wrong direction, so I couldn't fix it in time. One of my landing legs hit before the others, and this flipped the whole thing upside down, I attempted recovery and the parachute hit the ground, exploding, after which the command pod hit and just popped off like they didn't even have it so much as screwed to the rest of the ship.

Seriously, landings in this game are like the highest my blood pressure will ever reach, because somehow they always mess up and tip/flip over.

[Aseaheru]

Odd, I normally succeed most of the time...

But yah, things like popping off.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Near Future Technologies updated for .24!

Development of a small VASIMR-powered shuttle was sometimes faced with dangerous issues.

Spoiler: Control center? Uh... we have a problem. (click to show/hide)

But ultimately, it was successful.

Spoiler: Powered by a twin VASIMR... so like cross between an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter (click to show/hide)

Decent dV reserve, maximum TWR of 0.5, and it's all possible thanks to Near Future Technologies. ^_^
I really like being able to design such compact craft, even if their use is highly niche.

[Aseaheru]

That looks awesome, a modding I will go.

Also, Universal Storage looks beautiful with ECLSS.

[jhxmt]

Is Kethane still the go-to gathering-resources-in-space-and-turning-them-into-propulsive-power mod?  And do asteroids contain kethane?   

[jocan2003]

Is Kethane still the go-to gathering-resources-in-space-and-turning-them-into-propulsive-power mod?  And do asteroids contain kethane?   

more or less the same yeah. But now its also a framework that other mod used to expand uppon ssuch as extraplanetary lanchpad, some colony bulding such as mks and oks mod. Now if you also use scansat mod, the satelitte will also scan In the backgrou d. No more activating your satelite, setting full warp and go to bed.

[BigFatStupidHead]

With the entire ModStatistics fiasco going on, an open alternative for Kethane called Karbonite is being developed. This is from the same guy that did Hollow Asteroids and a whole bunch of other mods, so expect asteroid mining from the get-go.

[alway]

With the entire ModStatistics fiasco going on,

Oh wow, looking that up... That sounds quite illegal in a good portion of the world.

[Girlinhat]

Can I get a TL;DR?

[Karkov]

Apparently ModStatistics collects "anonymous" data for modders' use.  It's apparently added in with some modpacks so people didn't know they were getting it.  Also doesn't have an opt-in function, you have to disable it via configs or deleting the files.

People are getting angry because privacy issues (which I support, but won't go on a rant here).

[Putnam]

Can I get a TL;DR?

Opt-out no-notification semi-anonymous mod usage tracking getting people up in a twist.