Space Plane: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:skylon1 8387.jpg|frame|It's like a plane... [[In Space]]!]]
In essence, a spaceship that can take off ''and'' land like an aircraft, as well as looking like an aircraft. Many ships have Vertical Take Off Or Landing capabilities, these babies though can use a regular runway too.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] & [[Manga]] ==
* The Gekko-Go of ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' is a large aircraft that is capable of entering low orbit for quick trans-globe travel.
* The ''[[Macross]]'' franchise is the king of this trope, featuring space planes that are also [[Transforming Mecha]]—but, perhaps surprisingly, they end up spending more time in plane form than mecha form. The earlier models of variable fighters generally required a lift from another craft to reach space but by the time of [[Macross Plus|Project Supernova]] they're capable of reaching orbit from planetary surfaces, even loaded down with an optional extra fold booster.
** [[Macross Frontier|Alto and Michel]] demonstrate the same again when escaping from Gallia IV
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', the FF-3/FF-S3 Sword Fish is a multi-use interceptor that functions in high altitude and low orbit. It's successor, the [[
== [[Film]] ==
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* The Colonial Marines' dropships in ''[[Aliens]]''.
* The [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Shuttlecraft various shuttlecraft] of ''[[Star Trek]]'', though whether they meet the definition of this trope might be [[Your Mileage May Vary|a matter of opinion]]; [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Class_F_shuttlecraft the original shuttle] met the single - stage to orbit, rocket rather than antigravity power, and aerodynamic shape requirements.
* As mentioned in the "[[Literature]]" section, most ''[[Star Wars]]'' space - capable vehicles smaller than about 200 meters are able to land on planets, but this is due to repulsorlift engines rather than conventional aircraft design. The shape of Naboo [https://web.archive.org/web/20001016211050/http://www.iaw.on.ca/~btaylor1/NabooN1fighter.html space fighters] and [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/H-type_Nubian_yacht space yachts], however, appear very similar to jet aircraft.
* In ''[[Starship Troopers]]'', [http://starshiptroopers.wikia.com/wiki/Dropship_%28films%29 dropships] pick up the title characters. It's not clear how they get from surface to space, but they do look and act like a Space Plane.
* One of the purest examples of this trope is the "[http://www.planet3earth.co.uk/orion_3_spaceplane.htm Orion III]" Space Plane model, which appeared briefly in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.
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** The "[[Doctor Who]]" episode "When a Good Man Goes to War" has the exact same Spitfires returning to help The Doctor take control of a space station called Demons Run.
* One turns up, in of all places, ''[[CSI: Miami]]''.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
Sort of - none of these have really [[Incredibly Lame Pun|got off the ground]] yet.▼
* The Silbervogel design from [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Nazi Germany]].▼
* The British HOTOL (Horizontal Take Off Or Landing) project, cancelled in 1988 after development problems.▼
* The European Space Agency [http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/skylon.html Skylon] project, pictured above.▼
* [[wikipedia:Rockwell X-30|X-30]] "National Aerospace Plane", which was never built. A smaller version, the [[wikipedia:NASA X-43|X-43]], reached a maximum speed of nearly Mach 10 using a [[wikipedia:Pegasus rocket|Pegasus missile]] as a booster. Keep in mind that to be a true Space Plane, an aircraft would need to reach somewhere around Mach 25, depending on what altitude you were at, ''without'' a booster.▼
* The XCOR [[wikipedia:Lynx rocketplane|Lynx]] rocketplane. It will only be able to reach Mach 2 or 3, however, and will be limited to brief, sub-orbital spaceflight only.▼
* There are several proposed designs which use a magnetic launch system to achieve the necessary launch velocity. Naturally none have been built due to cost; it could also be argued that any craft launched by such a system would not be a true space-plane, since it wouldn't be taking off under its own power.▼
* The Hypersoar was a commercial airliner project that would fly to the edge of space and skip across the atmosphere, making it extremely fast and thrifty with fuel while avoiding the Concorde's noise problems. It was quickly shelved when it was realized the skipping effect couldn't be done effectively without [[Nausea Fuel|repeated +1G/-1G shifts in acceleration.]] ▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[BattleTech]]'', there are Aerospace fighters which can act as normal fighter aircraft or fighter aircraft [[In Space]] at the discretion of the mothership, at least some of which are capable of surface - to - space flight, winged shuttlecraft, and Aerodyne Dropships, which are able to land as a Space Plane.
* In ''[[
* Many small craft and even Starships in ''[[Traveller]]'' are capable of this. Not all, particularly the biggest which is why the largest starports tend to have orbital facilities.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The Delta-glider Mk.4 (and many other cool spaceplanes) from ''[[Orbiter]]''. It can do an Earth to Moon and Earth to Mars journey easily.
** [
*** The XR2 Ravenstar is probably one of the more awesome examples from orbiter, as its basically a Space capable reimagining of the [[
* ''[[Freelancer]]'' space ships seem fully capable of launching and landing, though gameplay always uses docking rings, presumably for traffic control.
* ''Battlecruiser 3000 AD'' shuttles are capable of atmosphere to space and back.
* Starting with ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] III'', some fighters are explicitly said to be capable of flying and fighting in an atmosphere, while others aren't.
* ''[[Civilization]]: Call to Power'' has several units that can launch themselves into space. (Including an actual Space Plane unit, and a unit called a [[Space Fighter]]). The Civilization 2: Test of Time Sci-fi game also has several units that can travel into space. (The Shuttle is probably the most obvious example.)
* Several ships in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe - the Normandy SR1 can fly in atmosphere, the Kodiak Drop Shuttle and the Viper gunship can both transit too, as can starfighters.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', you get one of those in place of a [[Global Airship]]. It's called Ragnarok.
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* All E-frame from ''[[Exo Squad]]'' seem to have direct-atmosphere-to-space-and-back capability, but most of them fall under [[Humongous Mecha]], so only Kaz Takagi's CR-001 Exofighter qualifies for the "plane" part.
* The Disney show ''Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers'' had an episode, imaginatively called "Space Plane" which revolved around Chip and Dale getting trapped in a space plane, forcing Gadget to cook up a scheme involving a homemade spaceship with fire extinguisher thrusters, dynamite-powered rockets, all powered by pulling cables with nuts and washers attached to them.
▲== [[Real Life]] ==
▲Sort of - none of these have really [[Incredibly Lame Pun|got off the ground]] yet.
▲* The Silbervogel design from [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Nazi Germany]].
▲* The British HOTOL (Horizontal Take Off Or Landing) project, cancelled in 1988 after development problems.
▲* The European Space Agency [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429175322/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/skylon.html Skylon] project, pictured above.
▲* [[wikipedia:Rockwell X-30|X-30]] "National Aerospace Plane", which was never built. A smaller version, the [[wikipedia:NASA X-43|X-43]], reached a maximum speed of nearly Mach 10 using a [[wikipedia:Pegasus rocket|Pegasus missile]] as a booster. Keep in mind that to be a true Space Plane, an aircraft would need to reach somewhere around Mach 25, depending on what altitude you were at, ''without'' a booster.
▲* The XCOR [[wikipedia:Lynx rocketplane|Lynx]] rocketplane. It will only be able to reach Mach 2 or 3, however, and will be limited to brief, sub-orbital spaceflight only.
▲* There are several proposed designs which use a magnetic launch system to achieve the necessary launch velocity. Naturally none have been built due to cost; it could also be argued that any craft launched by such a system would not be a true space-plane, since it wouldn't be taking off under its own power.
▲* The Hypersoar was a commercial airliner project that would fly to the edge of space and skip across the atmosphere, making it extremely fast and thrifty with fuel while avoiding the Concorde's noise problems. It was quickly shelved when it was realized the skipping effect couldn't be done effectively without [[Nausea Fuel|repeated +1G/-1G shifts in acceleration.]]
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[[Category:Travel Cool]]
[[Category:Tropes On a Plane]]
[[Category:
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