Zoophagous

I am also having this problem, any ideas? I really dont want to revert

Im having a helluva time getting anything without an ablator on the front going mach 20 within the atmosphere on anything like the HTVs flight path. Even just getting an ablator going that fast without flying way out into space first is challenging. I guess the speed requirement wasn't part of the challenge but thats really the challenge here, no?

This is my attempt at making Ion engines useful, the MITS(Modular Ion Tug Spacecraft) it can be expanded pretty much forever but at a certain size it become difficult to re orient without RCS or two specialized RCS tug units. It honestly doesn't improve the burn times for getting out to Jool any more than a minute or two over just one MITS unit but it had enough panels that you can run it full throttle all the way out in the Jool zone for going moon to moon. https://imgur.com/share/a/yoDoq This configuration is the one I used to go to Jool and back.

I have a lot more stuff to post but I thought I might start with this shot of the flagship crafts of the Atlantis Combat Technologies line up. https://imgur.com/9yhBK8j In the front is the small but formidable Kraken AT-4 VTOL Manned bomb Left rear is the Manta RA-8 Recon/Ground attack with missiles that work pretty freaking well Middle rear is the Narwhal B-4 Bomber with 16 internal bombs Right rear is the Angler X-2 Multirole, in this picture it has 6 external bombs and a massive supersonic cruise missile called the Dogfish They can all land safely with full weapons and fuel(some easier than others...) the Manta and Narwhal both carry lots of countermeasures and have Crew escape modules that work on the runway and almost any flight configuration due to exhaustive testing. And all bombs and missiles pack enough wallop to destroy a building. edit: Here a few more pics of the Narwhal in action https://imgur.com/a/DyQMe