Suggested Citation:
Sarigul-Klijn, Marti M. and Nesrin Sarigul-Klijn (2009) Design Description of the Benson Space Company Spaceship. AIAA Space 2009 Conference and Exposition

This paper describes the results of a Phase I design study completed for the Benson Space Company Spaceship. This Spaceship uses the wings, tail surfaces, hydraulic actuators, and landing gear from the Northrop T-38 Talon supersonic jet trainer and the fuselage shape from the German V-2 rocket. The off-the-shelf T-38 components have significant strength, maximum aerodynamic pressure, and aeroelastic flutter margins. The Spaceship takes off vertically, flies to a peak altitude of 105 kilometers, and glides horizontally to a runway for landing. Its flying handling qualities are such that a human pilot can fly the vehicle without using any stability augmentation systems. The Spaceship subjects the passengers to no more than 3 G's during reentry by spreading the deceleration over a wider range of altitude using a new patent-pending "Variable Ballistic Control g-brakes" concept.