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What's the name for this kind of vessel ?

AeroGav

By AeroGav
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AeroGav

AeroGav

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Posted

OK, 

KSP gives you rockets.  Everyone knows what a rocket is.  

There are also SSTO spaceplanes.   Everyone has seen them too.    There are also SSTO rockets - self explanatory.

For those who want a winged vehicle, but are unable , for various reasons, to get enough performance SSTO,  there are Space Shuttles,  basically airplanes carried into space by a rocket, but capable of horizontal landing.

What I don't see much of however, are space planes with jet engine boosters.      My first interplanetary flight in KSP came with one of these, since i'd not yet learned how to build an SSTO that could go all the way to the surface of another body.       

One problem with this technology is that it lacks a catchy name to describe it.    Every time I describe the idea, i'm forced to write a sentence or two.     Does a proper term actually exist, somewhere in NASA's (or some sci-fi writer's) archives? 

It's not an SSTO spaceplane (since some parts don't come back) , but nor is it really a TSTO spaceplane (the part being thrown away is quite a small part of the launch mass , in any case TSTO implies a smaller plane being carried by a larger one)

 

 

 

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regex

regex

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, AeroGav said:

but nor is it really a TSTO spaceplane

How so? It's a Two-Stage To Orbit, insofar as I can tell from the thread (don't have the data for your vid).

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(the part being thrown away is quite a small part of the launch mass

Makes no difference, you're staging it.

Quote

in any case TSTO implies a smaller plane being carried by a larger one)

Why? If I use a RATO setup for a spaceplane I'd call it a TSTO as well (and if I had multiple rocket stages for assists I'd probably just stop counting and call it a damn spaceplane). Similarly, I'd call Falcon 9 a TSTO (and it's probably classified as such).

Edited by regex
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Spricigo

Spricigo

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18 hours ago, AeroGav said:

Every time I describe the idea, i'm forced to write a sentence or two. Does a proper term actually exist, somewhere in NASA's (or some sci-fi writer's) archives? 

So you can imagine how I feel when I have to explain that my SSTO is don't have wings and jets, or that its not 100% recoverable, or ... well, you got the idea.

The fact the first stage is a pair of Jet Boosters is just a detail you need to explain because is not what people are expecting. So, combining what regex and Gaarst already said, is a JATO TSTO Spaceplane.

 

BTW you mention "Space Shuttles" which is not the proper term for this kind of vehicle. This catchy name comes from a particular vehicle of this kind.

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Spricigo

Spricigo

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54 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Flying Identity Crisis? 

I think I'll start to use that to distinguish craft that are something but not the usually expected kind of this something. I often build FIC spaceplanes and FIC SSTOs and not much interested in explaining they are FIC every time.

 

 

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qzgy

qzgy

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17 minutes ago, Helmetman said:

But you got yourself a pretty bad vessel if it's so :P

Not necessarily. The Apollo missions were Several Stage to Ocean. They just made a pit stop at the Moon, ya' know? :P

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