SSTO space planes

[Kubaf16]

Hi, i'm new to KSP and forums

(bought the games on last day of 0.24) And my question is, what are SSTO planes? I've seen many of these, and wondered what this means.

Thanks for any advice.

[Alshain]

Hi, i'm new to KSP and forums

(bought the games on last day of 0.24) And my question is, what are SSTO planes? I've seen many of these, and wondered what this means.

Thanks for any advice.

Welcome

Spaceplane - Anything that goes to space and has plane characteristics like Wings, Control Surfaces, etc. It includes crafts like the NASA STS Shuttle, the Russian Buran, the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser, and several planes from TSC (Spaceship One, Spaceship Two). It does not even necessarily mean a plane even capable of true orbit.

SSTO - Any Rocket OR Spaceplane that goes to orbit without shedding parts. (Single Stage to Orbit)

Important to know that all SSTOs are not planes and all Spaceplanes are not SSTOs.

To date there are no SSTOs in the real world that have made it to orbit. It's a theoretical device. However there are projects in the works such as the Skylon, which to my knowledge is the only one not cancelled at the moment.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Alshain

[Tex_NL]

You might also wonder about the question WHY.

Both in KSP and in real life SSTO spaceplanes are extremely cost efficient. They are fully reusable and the only true cost is fuel.

One of my favourite SSTO planes in KSP can perform a rescue mission worth 50.000 to 60.000 for less roughly 500 Funds worth of fuel.

[QuesoExplosivo]

I wouldn't call SSTOs cost efficient in real life, because none have ever been built. Thus, all we have are estimates.

[Pecan]

Yeah, to put the above two comments in perspective - in KSP jet engines are incredibly fuel-efficient. By using them instead of rockets you save a lot of fuel, which means you also don't have to worry about staging and throwing-away expensive engines just for efficiency. A vehicle that takes-off like a rocket can benefit from that too (eg; here's one I just finished) but it is relative hard to land one vertically. THE big advantage of wings - a defining feature of a (space)plane is that they let you fly, or at least glide, a long way to your landing.

So - using jets means you don't have to worry (so much) about construction efficiency, using wings means you don't have to worry (so much) about manoeuvre accuracy.

[Wanderfound]

In slight contrast to Pecan:

Planes allow the luxury of lifting with your wings, permitting you to carry more stuff with less thrust.

Vertical SSTO's allow you to avoid that whole messy and dangerous horizontal takeoff and landing business. They also save some weight by reducing wing surface, but this is balanced by the need for >1 TWR worth of engines.