Comments on: G-loading comparisons

By: branson

branson — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:42:53 +0000

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=spdv&time=8

By: vanhumphries

vanhumphries — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:58:28 +0000

That will be some sight for the passengers when the vehicle returns to Earth and goes into vertical descent mode. It seems that the passengers will be facing the ground with all their weight on their chests.

By: Peter Shearer

Peter Shearer — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:16:39 +0000

Mr Jim Benson,

Do you have anyone working on the interior design of the cabin? If not I may be able to help you out.

I’m an Industrial Designer specializing in vehicle “experience.” Human factors, anthropometrics, environment (colors, sounds, mood creation), seat ergonomics and of course… Make it look really cool and exciting to be in!

If you’ve seen the EADS pdf on their proposal… That’s what I can do as well. Renderings, graphics, presentations etc…

Let me know…

~Peter fallingdown@hotmail.com

By: Jim Benson

Jim Benson — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:55:02 +0000

Dear David and others. Thank you for your interest in our vehicle. You are correct, our spaceship does use thrust vector control (TVC) during the initial 5 seconds of the ascent. It then transitions to aerodynamic controls. Ascent G forces are significantly less than air launch concepts because we have an additional 50,000 feet to accelerate to the same Mach 3 velocity needed by everyone to reach 100 km.

Our wings and tail surfaces are patterned after the T-38 jet trainer. This trainer has been used by the USAF for the last 40 years to successfully train student pilots and the current plan is to continue to use the aircraft for another 20 to 30 years. We have a simulation of our spaceship up and running. It lands just like the T-38, which is to say it is not hard to land.

In response to other comments, we can have a variety of motor-out situations, and continue the launch safely. We will clamp the vehicle down until all motors are firing properly (knowing in milliseconds), and can easily abort without leaving the launch pad. If we lose one, two or even three motors early in the launch, we can still safely glide back to the spaceport for a normal landing.

As for Brian Feeney – you have got to be kidding! We only work with real, experienced and successful engineers.

Onward and upward,

Jim Benson

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:48:35 +0000

G-loading comparisons…

In response to Benson Space’s announcement about their flights only subjecting passengers to 3Gs, Brian Binnie of Scaled Composites talked recently about G-loads that Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo’s tourists will experience….

By: David Michaels

David Michaels — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:31:52 +0000

The Benson ship is a kludge of a bunch of wildly different X-plane and fighter jet parts (a wing from this, a tail from that, etc), hastily thrown together as a replacement for a lifting body based on old NASA and Russian designs. As far as anyone knows, no flight hardware exists and the whole thing is awaiting a big bucks sugar daddy or two to fund it. It is supposed to lift off vertically using a cluster of hybrid rocket engines (oh by the way, how is it supposed to remain stable in the low-speed flight regime, before airfoils become effective? Gimbled nozzles? Vernier engines? Or does is it going to zip straight up using a guide rail, like a giant Estes rocket? What kind of G forces would the passengers experience then?). There is talk of a “patented” reentry system using dive breaks, but that’s about as far as the description goes. Then it’s supposed to glide to a dead-stick landing on tiny X-15 wings. Landing speed must be at least 220 knots or so, or the thing turns into a lawn dart. This is supposed to be “safer” than the tried and true Rutan design?

Sorry, but my money’s on Rutan-Branson.

By: Thomas Matula

Thomas Matula — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:09:21 +0000

Hi All,

I wonder how Richard Branson’s 91 year old father and 88 year old mother will handle 7 G’s, not to mention Stephan Hawkings…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/06/12/scivirg12.xml

Branson: How to launch Stephen Hawking into space
Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 12/06/2007

[[[The plan is for Sir Richard’s family to be launched in around 18 months, in the first official flight. By his family, he means “my mother, 88, my father, who will be 91, and my two children, who are not really children any more. We will be spanning three generations.”]]]

By: Doug Gard

Doug Gard — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:20:15 +0000

Perhaps some thrill seekers would prefer the 7g experience while others like myself would favor a gentler experience. I see potential for both. However I would think that redundancy and safety features would be a selling point for all.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:26:36 +0000

Jim….has Brian Feeney been involved in the styling of the new vehicle? It dose look like Wild Fire with wings.

Brian was a pioneer in the industry, having introduced the “adult toy” style to airframe design.

By: Peter Shearer

Peter Shearer — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:57:37 +0000

Excuse me for my typo… Benson (not Bensen). I keep doing that!