Patent ID: 7240878

Claim:
A space plane, comprising; A fuselage with an outer skin and an inner structure that supports the outer skin, where the outer skin and inner structure are formed from titanium aluminide and where the fuselage comprises a lifting body; A front aspect fuselage width from 1.1 to 1.5 times a front aspect fuselage height; A pair of main wings, respectively attached to opposed sides of the fuselage; A pair of canards, respectively attached to opposed sides of the fuselage and located forward of the main wings; A ceramic nose cone attached to a forward portion of the fuselage and which comprises passages within the ceramic for active cooling; An active cooling system which comprises cooling lines to cool the fuselage, outer skin, and nose cone; Titanium aluminide extrusions on the inner side of said outer skin which act as heat sinks to transfer heat to said cooling lines and to hold said cooling lines in place; Carbon/carbon ablative shields positioned within the space plane to provide internal structures with protection against heat in the event of outer skin or active cooling system failure; A fire suppression system; A vertical tail plane positioned on a rear portion of the fuselage; A landing gear comprising a nose wheel and at least two multi-wheel bogies; A propulsion system comprising an engine capable of propelling the space plane at a speed of at least Mach 3.5; and whereby the space plane is capable of operation both inside and outside an atmosphere.