Talk:AIF/@comment-25453078-20150311145735/@comment-10905876-20150312160250


 * Sigh

Yes, because everyone knows that atmospheric lift based airframes can maneuver perfectly in a vacuum. No space operations of Ospreys, understand? You'll just have to operate in an atmosphere until the AIF develops a space capable drop ship.

Also, here are a few other issues with space flight of an osprey:

Heat: the Osprey has no means to cope with the heat of atmospheric entry, so even if we have a crew in space suits, they'd still be cooked on the way down, and arrive as human hot pockets.

Control: in a vacuum, the traditional flight controls of an Osprey won't do any good, ailerons, elevators, rudders, and swash plates all need air to control an aircraft's attitude. To maneuver in space, you'll need either a bunch of RCS thrusters, or several flywheels to control attitude.

Fuel: to reach orbit, traditional flight won't get you all the way. You'll need to use ballistic flight at some point to reach orbital altitude. That will burn a huge amount of fuel, so unless you plan on a space shuttle style tank, you'll probably run out of gas before you get where you're going.