Space Flying Hydrofoil, AKA Single-Stage-From-Orbit-Do-WHAT-Now?

[Piloter]

I had an all-terrain flying, foiling Kerbal rescue craft once, way back in .23. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/30411-Boat-Thread?p=536407&viewfull=1#post536407 . I LOVED that thing but subsequent updates broke it thoroughly as well as its total dependence on mods. I didn't get much further with the basic design in subsquent revisions but I finally decided to take another serious stab at it but with a twist. This time, add space!

Functionality/parts mods used:

Mechjeb

FAR

Ven's Stock Revamp

(Some visual / effects mods...CollisionFX, Astronomers, EVE, etc.)

The "Barf Bag" will launch into orbit (100km tested), circularize with fuel left over, deorbit itself, eject the deorbiters, glide down through the atmosphere with nothing more than airbrakes--no radiators, no heat shields, no nothing (thanks to the awesome conduction properties of girders), go into flight mode to find a suitable body of water--controllable at at least Mach 2--and then slow down just above it, parachute down, pop off the parachute symmetrical foils, and go hydrofoiling. A spinal SpeedPak provides additional range for flight mode or foil mode and doesn't impact speed in either. On the water, it'll hit 140 mph (~62mps) stable for ~5 minutes or a conservative 60 mph for somewhat longer. When done or when it's time to picnic it'll roll up out of the water and cruise on gear. If you find a decent upslope after that it'll also take off again and fly controllably!

Yes, you read that right, the flying hydrofoil gets punted to and dropped out of orbit. It doesn't get much more multi-mode.

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This was built from the start to be able to carry a passenger and a pilot. I tried rebuilding it in single-seat mode with lighter components but it doesn't work nearly as well. Replacing the turbojets with regular jets also did great things for the range but reduced the top speed to a mere 60mph. So to heck with that.