Heatshields on Spaceplane parts.

[Capt. Hunt]

The new reentry heating system renders Spaceplanes virtually useless, since they do not have heatshields. Spaceplane parts need the ablator resource added.

[EdusacconBR]

theres a mod that adds ablator to all parts, but there should be something like the space shuttle heatshield, and it should be radial attached

[sal_vager]

The new skin temperature system should alleviate this, and spaceplanes can both go to space and return, but you will want a lowish periapsis (30km is good) and you will want to raise your nose a lot to generate drag, the longer you stay at hyper/supersonic velocity the more heat you will generate.

In fact if you roll inverted and pull "up" (down towards the ground) you can slow down quite quickly and avoid a lot of heat.

In short, there isn't really a need for spaceplane heat shielding now.

[NathanKell]

Spaceplane parts _do_ have shielding, the same sort of shielding the Shuttle had in fact (high max temp, very high emissivity).

Not all shielding is ablative.

[Capt. Hunt]

theres a mod that adds ablator to all parts, but there should be something like the space shuttle heatshield, and it should be radial attached

http://i.imgur.com/tcFeMP4.jpg

Maybe not something we can slap on anywhere, but what would be handy would be panels shaped to fit flush with the undersides of the Mk II/III parts, and maybe small tiles that could be used as blast deflectors. But if NathanKell is right, Spaceplane parts might not even need this. I haven't actually tried reentry with the stock spaceplane parts, but similar issues with the KSO since the update got me thinking about the Spaceplane parts' durability.

[Capt Snuggler]

I believe Porkjet was working on a heat tile texture tweakable just before SP+ was absorbed in to the stock game.

its was only intended to be cosmetic as far as I know, but the feature was dropped. there was no heat system at that time so the feature would only have further mislead the player.

point is, its could be done and was being worked on at one point and now, with a heat system in the game, it could be a good addition.

*I will update this post with a citation once I have tracked it down.

[SebLavK]

IIRC, the space shuttle's ceramic tiles were not ablative, and were to be replaced after a few flights or if they sustained damage. The only thing missing is the texture for it, the behaviour is already modeled somewhat in the game.

[Wanderfound]

The new reentry heating system renders Spaceplanes virtually useless, since they do not have heatshields. Spaceplane parts need the ablator resource added.

Spaceplane parts are much more heat tolerant than most, and their vulnerability to heat effects substantially decreased in the recent update. You'd have to be making a deliberately suicidal reentry to have any chance of toasting one now.

[NathanKell]

Where "deliberately suicidal" == "entering nose first" probably

Fly it like a real spaceplane, i.e. high AoA.

[Daveroski]

I've made and flown a few new spaceplanes since the last update.

Shallow re-entry no problems.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

Spaceplane parts are much more heat tolerant than most, and their vulnerability to heat effects substantially decreased in the recent update. You'd have to be making a deliberately suicidal reentry to have any chance of toasting one now.

My observation has been that heating behaves strangely in the thinnest parts of the atmosphere. Aerobraking (even only a few thousand meters deep) at a reasonable planetary system entry speed (say 3000-4000 m/s at periapsis) has resulted in virtually instantaneous combustion, particularly of struts. Even return to kerbin from minmus took about six passes and a strong retrograde burn to keep the struts from failing. Regular parts however do seem fairly reasonable.

[Zeo]

IIRC, the space shuttle's ceramic tiles were not ablative, and were to be replaced after a few flights or if they sustained damage. The only thing missing is the texture for it, the behaviour is already modeled somewhat in the game.

Didn't rain pretty much disintegrate those tiles and the shuttle could only fly when it was clear? Damn we need weather simulation in KSP!