nd

This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research
for Rocketplane Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.

LANGKASA 2 AND LANGKASA 4 VERTICAL TAKE-OFF & LANDING

SUBORBITAL TOURISM SPACEPLANE CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS
AND SPACEPAD

Norul Ridzuan Zakaria, Jalaluddin Abu, Anwar Taufeek Ismail,

Ahmad Aziz Basri, Dato’ Nasri Nasron

Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Email: ikam290200@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT STS-MC later produced a new conceptual design known

Malaysia is among the very few developing countries
outside Europe and North America, where there is an
effort to develop suborbital tourism spaceplanes. The
possibility of developing suborbital tourism spaceplanes
has been explored by a group of Malaysian space tourism
activists since 2002, placing Malaysia as a pioneer
country in such activity among the developing countries
of the world.
Several unique conceptual designs of suborbital tourism
spaceplane have been produced and presented at several
international space conferences. The first conceptual
design was published in 2003, which was a unique twin
boom design known as, Langkasa (Space Eagle).
Beginning 2004, the effort was more towards supporting
the realization of a contemporary suborbital tourism
spaceplane concept during that time, which was
Ascender, the concept produced by Bristol Spaceplanes.
Unfortunately, the effort of promoting Ascender
suborbital tourism spaceplane to be realized in Malaysia
did not result as planned. However, the promotion of
Ascender in Malaysia has provided the opportunity to the
Malaysian space tourism activists to further understand
the design and operation of suborbital tourism
spaceplane. This has contributed significantly to the real
effort by the activists to develop their own suborbital
tourism spaceplane beginning 2008.
The concept of combining jet and rocket propulsions as
employed by Ascender has became a major influence in
the design of suborbital tourism spaceplane by the
Malaysian space tourism activists, who have been
grouped under Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter
(STS-MC) since 2006.
In 2009, STS-MC had assigned Swiss Propulsion
Laboratory (SPL) of Switzerland to produce a conceptual
design of small suborbital tourism spaceplane with given
parameters by STS-MC, resulting in a simple design
known as MX with intention to employ rocket propulsion
to be designed by SPL.
as MXI with the intention to be installed with a rocket
propulsion developed by SPL, and with a vertical take-
off and landing (VTOL) propulsion. This conceptual
design was presented by STS-MC at the 4th International
Association for the Advencement of Space Safety
(IAASS) conference on May 2010. After the conference,
a significant change was done to the airframe and
propulsion design of MXI, and the new suborbital
tourism spaceplane conceptual design was renamed,
Langkasa 2.
Langkasa 4 is the larger and more advanced version of
Langkasa 2. Both conceptual designs of suborbital
tourism spaceplane are intended to be uniquely VTOL
capable and employ a combination of turbofan with lift
fan and vectoring nozzles and rocket engine.
If developed, Langkasa 2 and Langkasa 4 will introduce
a new and exciting element in space tourism because
with VTOL capability, both suborbital tourism
spaceplanes will be able to be operated from spaceports
without runways, providing opportunities to a new
concept of spaceport design and operation and new
possibilities in the development of space tourism. This
new concept of spaceport is called spacepad.
1. THE FIRST LANGKASA
Even before the success of SpaceShipOne suborbital
flight on June 2004, there were several suborbital tourism
spaceplane projects announced worldwide. Almost all
such projects were located either in North America or
Europe. Unknown to the world during those times was an
effort in Malaysia, a developing country in Asia without
any known history in aeronautic and astronautic, to
develop suborbital tourism spaceplane, known as
Langkasa (Space Eagle).
The name Langkasa was coined by Prof. Patrick Collins
representing Space Future and Bristol Spaceplanes during
his visit to Malaysia for a meeting with the Malaysian
space tourism activists on October 2002, but Langkasa
conceptual design was drafted earlier in that year. At that

1

This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.
time, there was already a relationship between the
Malaysian space tourism activists and Bristol
Spaceplanes of the United Kingdom, the designer of
Ascender suborbital tourism spaceplane concept, through
Space Future, the leading online space tourism resource
center. Ascender had significantly influenced the design
of Langkasa, particularly the application of both jet and
rocket propulsions in the design.
Compared to other designs existed during that time and
also of today, Langkasa is very unique, because it is a
twin boom design where the passengers are
unconventionally seated at the boom separated from the
pilot who is conventionally seated at the fuselage.
Without the booms, the design of Langkasa looks like
that of a 4th generation fighter jet with delta wing and
paired fins. It carries 2 passengers, where a passenger is
seated inside the cockpit aboard each boom.
The rationale behind such design with booms was that by
seating separately from the pilot and in a cockpit at the
booms, the passengers will be able to have better view of
Earth surface and space environment and experience
more of the zero-gravity effect and space environment. In
this design concept, being lonely in the cockpit was part
of the adventure and fun and to “maximize” the
experience of being in space”.
For safety reasons, both passenger cockpits can be
jettisoned from the booms. Therefore, each cockpit has
its own mini propulsion for the effective physical
separation from the boom while in flight, a parachute for
safe landing and a communication unit.
Figure 1. The illustration of Langkasa published in
Pengenalan Ekonomi Angkasa (Introductory Space
Economics) on February 2003.
The propulsion system consists of a pair of jet engines
and a pair of solid rocket engines. The jet engines are
conventionally installed at the rear part of the fuselage,
while a solid rocket engine is installed at the rear part of
each boom. This application of both a jet propulsion and
rocket propulsion was an influence from the Ascender
2
nd
design concept, which was the leading design concept
during that time with both propulsions.
On February 2003, the Malaysian space tourism group
had published a book, Pengenalan Ekonomi Angkasa
(Introductory Space Economics), with space tourism as
its major content. It was the first of such book published
in a developing country. In the book, there was a 3
dimensional illustration of Langkasa. In later years, the
illustration had also been published in papers presented at
international space conferences, including the 2nd
International Association for the Advancement of Space
Safety (IAASS) conference on May 2007 in Chicago, the
USA.
However, after the Perak state government of Malaysia
announced on November 2004 that the state government
was interested in having Ascender suborbital spaceplane
designed by Bristol Spaceplanes operating from the
airport in Ipoh, the capital of Perak, Ascender had
become the most well known suborbital spaceplane
conceptual design in Malaysia. The Malaysian space
tourism activists too had concentrated promoting
Ascender as the suitable suborbital tourism spaceplane to
be developed in Malaysia, rather than Langkasa. Since
then, the illustrations of Ascender had appeared many
times on major newspapers in Malaysia. There was even
a version with Malaysian flag.
Figure 2. The original illustration of Ascender by Bristol
Spaceplanes and the illustration of Ascender with
Malaysian flag published by a major Malaysian
newspaper.

This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.
On July 2006, the Malaysian space tourism activists had
grouped themselves under Space Tourism Society
Malaysia Chapter (STS-MC), which was established as a
chapter of Space Tourism Society, headquartered in Los
Angeles, the USA. On February 2008, the society had
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Swiss Propulsion Laboratory (SPL) at SPL, Switzerland
for SPL to design and develop rocket propulsion for a
conceptual design of suborbital tourism spaceplane
known as MX.
MX was later designed by SPL for STS-MC, based on
parameters and original concept by STS-MC. Like
Langkasa, it is a small suborbital tourism spaceplane
designed for carrying 2 passengers, but unlike Langkasa,
it has a more conventional design with the passengers
sitting side by side rear of the pilot, at the fuselage.
Figure 3. Profile drawing and 3D illustration of MX
suborbital tourism spaceplane conceptual design with
part of its propulsion system visible.
MX is supposed to be equipped with a rocket propulsion
system designed and developed by SPL consisting of 3
SLR50k-l liquid rocket engines, besides 1 small jet
engine. The suborbital tourism spaceplane should be able
to reach 110km from sea level. The usage of jet engine is
to increase safety during take-off and landing.
3
nd
On October 2008, STS-MC launched its own suborbital
tourism spaceplane research program, known as
Malaysian Research for Rocketplane Design and
Development (M-R2D2), and MX became part of the
program.
On May 2009, STS-MC had signed another MoU with
SPL and Project Enterprise, a program in Germany to
develop suborbital tourism spaceplane. This MoU had
significantly influenced the development of later
Langkasas conceptual designs.
On October 2009 another conceptual design, called MXI
was produced by M-R2D2 program and is quite similar
to MX for carrying the tradition of Langkasa of being
small and powered by a combination of jet and rocket
engines.
As with MX, MXI was also designed to carry 2
passengers side by side rear of the pilot, but it also
pioneered the idea of having the suborbital tourism
spaceplane piloted by computer instead of human pilot,
and in this configuration, MXI carries 3 passengers with
a passenger sitting at the premium single front seat.
However, the most significant feature of MXI is that it
has VTOL capability. It was presented as the first
conceptual design of VTOL suborbital tourism
spaceplane at the 4th conference of International
Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
(IAASS) in Huntsville, the USA on May 2010.
After the conference, the design was improved and
renamed, Langkasa 2.
2. LANGKASA 2
Langkasa 2 is the conceptual design of VTOL suborbital
tourism spaceplane evolved from MXI. Its propulsion
system is of the configuration called, centerline different
thrust (CLDT), where different type of propulsions are
installed in tandem at the centerline of the fuselage.
Langkasa 2 uses 2 types of different propulsions in
CLDT configuration, which are a turbofan with a lift fan
and a twin vectoring nozzles and a liquid rocket.
The VTOL capability is provided by the lift forces
resulted from the synchronization of the thrust from the
lift fan and the thrust from a pair of twin vectoring
nozzles of the turbofan.
The lift fan is installed directly at the rear of the cockpit
in front of the center of gravity. This lift fan is rotated by
a shaft, which is coupled to the turbofan installed

This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.
horizontally at the centerline of the fuselage via a
gearbox.
The gearbox is for controlling the rotational speed and
direction of the lift fan and to disengage the lift fan from
the turbofan when the operation of the lift fan is not
required.
This VTOL technique is very similar to that of F-35
Lightning II VTOL technique, where the fighter jet uses a
lift fan coupled to a turbofan with vectoring nozzle for its
VTOL operation.
Figure 4. The VTOL technique of of F-35 Lightning II,
which is similar to that of Langkasa 2.
The turbofan of Langkasa 2 has a pair of twin vectoring
nozzles which end horizontally at the same level at the
rear of the fuselage. The vectoring nozzles can be
vectored at angles accordingly for VTOL and
conventional jet flights.
During take-off, the thrusts from the lift fan and the
vectoring nozzles are synchronized using computers to
provide a well balanced and smooth lift force for the
comfort and safety of the passengers. At this moment, the
computers control and synchronize the magnitude of the
thrusts from the lift fan and the turbofan and also the
angles of the downward vectored nozzles.
During conventional jet flight, the lift fan is disengaged
from the turbofan, and the twin jet nozzles are vectored
rearwards.
Langkasa 2 changes its mode of flight from near
horizontal jet flight to near vertical rocket flight at 15km
from sea level. During rocket flight, the air intake is
closed to protect the turbofan and reduce the drag. The
air intake is also closed during the unpowered re-entry.
During rocket flight, the turbofan is not in operation, but
the rocket propulsion operates. The single rocket engine
is installed directly at the rear of the turbofan at the
centerline of the fuselage, and its rocket nozzle ends
4
nd
exactly between the twin jet nozzles at the rear of the
fuselage.
After the near vertical powered ascend using rocket
propulsion, at 75km from sea level, the rocket fuel and
oxidizer of Langkasa 2 will be depleted, but due to its
momentum, the suborbital tourism spaceplane will
continue its ascend until it reaches 90km from sea level.
When its momentum is balanced by the gravity, the
spaceplane will be at zero gravity for several tens of
seconds and less than 1 minute at 100km from sea level.
When the gravity exceeds its momentum, the spaceplane
dives near vertically towards Earth unpowered, under the
force of gravity. With the depletion of the rocket fuel and
oxidizer, the center of gravity of the spaceplane will be
moved rearward.
When Langkasa 2 reaches 15km from sea level, its
turbofan is reignited and the suborbital tourism
spaceplane flies near horizontally using its single jet
engine again.
The movement of the center of gravity towards the rear
of the spaceplane will increase the angle of attack
resulting in the reduction of the lift force. The
conventional method to overcome this phenomenon is by
the application of canards to reduce the angle of attack,
but Langkasa 2 will use its lift fan for this purpose.
The lift fan will be rotated at such direction and
magnitude to produce a thrust to reduce the angle of
attack. Therefore the lift fan will also be useful during
near horizontal jet flight, not only during VTOL
operation.
When Langkasa 2 reaches the airspace above the
terminal, the rotational direction of its lift fan is changed
to produce downward thrust after the suborbital tourism
spaceplane is stabilized for landing. The suborbital
spaceplane will land vertically after the thrust of its lift
fan and thrusts from its twin jet nozzles are synchronized
for smooth and safe landing.
As in MX, SPL is assigned to design and develop the
rocket propulsion for Langkasa 2. For this, SPL will have
to design a larger and more efficient rocket engine than
that of MX because Langkasa 2 only uses a single rocket
engine.
Langkasa 2 carries 2 passengers seated side by side at the
rear of its pilot. The paired seats are meant for couples
such as husband and wife, bride and groom, paired
friends or a businessperson with his or her client for them
to experience spaceflight together.
 nd
This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.

To enable unobstructed view of Earth surface, a

parallelogram-shaped look-down window is installed on
both sides of the cockpit.

Generally, the cockpit of Langkasa 2 is designed with the

objective to enable its passengers to view Earth surface
with comfort and safety for a relatively long time.

Figure 6. One of the authors standing and holding the

first 1:10 scaled model of Langkasa 2 vertically.

Figure 7. Another view of the first 1:10 scaled model of

Langkasa 2 with another one of the authors.

During the zero-gravity window of several tens of

seconds and less than 1 minute, the passengers will be
allowed to experience zero-gravity. This is done by
having a comfortable and safe enough cockpit and
specially-designed seat belts, which will allow the
passengers to float above their chairs. The passengers
will be gently pulled towards their chairs by a cord
attached to the chairs when the zero-gravity time ends.
The gentle force of the cord is synchronized with the
magnitude of the gravity by computers.

Langkasa 2 can also be piloted using computers, enable

the pilot seat to be occupied by a passenger as a premium
passenger seat. The positioning of each seat is to provide
the best view of Earth surface from each seat.

Figure 5. Profile drawings of Langkasa 2.

5

This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.
2.1. Langkasa 2+2
There is a conceptual design of suborbital tourism
spaceplane by STS-MC known as Langkasa 2+2. The
design is actually of Langkasa 2 without VTOL
capability and capable of carrying 4 passengers and 1
pilot.
An extra feature of Langkasa 2+2 besides the extra 2
passengers are a paired canards, which will be useful in
assisting its horizontal take-off as the suborbital tourism
spaceplane has a relatively small wing area, and reducing
the angle of attack after re-entry as the center of gravity
of the suborbital spaceplane has moved rearward during
and after re-entry.
Langkasa 2+2 was produced because STS-MC realizes
that there have been many VTOL projects worldwide
cancelled or failed. The same design without VTOL
capability will be simpler and economic to be developed.
Langkasa 2+2 is a lower risk program version of
Langkasa 2.
6
nd
Figure 8. Profile drawings of Langkasa 2+2.
3. LANGKASA 4
Langkasa 4 has very similar design and operation
features to that of Langkasa 2, except that Langkasa 4 is
bigger than Langkasa 2, powered by a pair of turbofans
each with a lift fan and a vectoring nozzle and a pair of
liquid rocket propulsion, and carries 4 passengers or 5
passengers if the suborbital tourism spaceplane is piloted
by computers.
An extra feature of Langkasa 4 is a small horizontal wing
above its fuselage at the rear end of the suborbital
tourism spaceplane. The function of the small wing is to
increase the lift force at the rear of the fuselage since
there will be extreme concentration of mass at that area,
particularly after re-entry.
A unique feature of Langkasa 4 suborbital tourism
spaceplane conceptual design is a pair of symmetrical
“look-down” large flat windows which is also
symmetrical to the conventional “look-front” windows.
The “look-down” windows enable all the passengers to
view Earth surface comfortably, clearly and unobstructed
from their seats.
Another unique feature of Langkasa 4 is all its 4
passengers will be seating in a row as front seat
passengers.
In general, Langkasa 4 is the larger and more advanced
version of Langkasa 2.
 nd
This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.

Figure 9. Profile drawings of Langkasa 4.

4. SPACEPAD - NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN

SPACE TOURISM WITH THE OPERATION
OF LANGKASA 2 AND LANGKASA 4

With VTOL capability, the operation of Langkasa 2 and

Langkasa 4 will create new opportunities in space
tourism, and increase the rate and volume at which space
tourism will develop. It will also expand the field of
space tourism to include involvement from various new
fileds.

Langkasa 2 and Langkasa 4 will not need runways for

take-off or landing. Therefore the spaceport for the
operation of both suborbital tourism spaceplanes will
require less space and budget to be developed and can be
developed at places, where before is not possible due to
the large area requirement for runways.

Spaceports for the operation of Langkasa 2 and Langkasa

4 need only to be equipped with vertical take-off and
landing platform very similar to that of helicopter
platform, enabling spaceport designers to be more
creative in their design and spaceport developers to have
more alternatives in choosing the sites.

The operation of VTOL suborbital tourism spaceplane

will encourage new concepts of spaceport, such as small-
scale spaceport equipped with platform similar to the
design and size of helipad, on top of high rise buildings

7
 nd
This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.

and aboard luxury ocean liners. This new VTOL

spaceflight platform is called “spacepad”.

The possible emergence of spacepads on top of high rise

buildings will create a new segment in suborbital
tourism, where major cities of the world can offer
suborbital tourism flights from high rise buildings.

VTOL suborbital tourism spaceplanes operated from

such spacepads during the night will enable the
passengers to view the lights of those big cities, and the
cities will be the brightest object on Earth surface seen
from space.

Figure 10. These illustrations are profile drawings of a

spacepad with Langkasa 4 on a high rise building. The
building or tower is 100 floors high and looks like a
rocket. The spacepad on top of it is covered by a dome
roof of 50m diameter with a large “sky door”. The door
slides open for Langkasa 4 to vertically take-off and land.
When Langkasa 4 is landed and being prepared or under
service, the door is closed and the spacepad becomes a
fully indoor facility to function as fully covered passenger
terminal and service hangar. The whole building is
actually a VTOL spaceport comprise of a hotel, medical
center, spaceflight simulator and preparation center, an
administration center, entertainment center, offices and a
shopping mall. Such VTOL spaceport can be built at the
center of major cities with high rise buildings, large
population and limited space.

8

This paper was completed on October 2010. It was prepared to commemorate the 2 anniversary of M-R2D2 (Malaysian Research for Rocketplane
Design & Development) program which was launched on October 2008.
The possible emergence of spacepads aboard luxury
ocean liners will create another new segment in
suborbital tourism, where the luxury ocean liners with
spacepad will offer suborbital tourism flights as part of
their luxury tourism packages. These ocean liners will
travel to exotic locations to enable the passengers of the
suborbital tourism spaceplanes to view exotic sceneries
of Earth surface such as large colorful coral reefs, icy
lands in south and north poles, or cluster of islands in the
middle of ocean.
The quality of these sceneries available to be viewed by
the passengers is as important as the lack of gravity to be
experienced by the passengers aboard a suborbital
tourism flight. Furthermore, the time available for the
passengers to view Earth surface is longer than the time
available for the passengers to experience zero gravity.
The zero gravity time will not exceed 1 minute.
Therefore, the time available for the passengers to view
the Earth surface is much longer and can be extended to
be as long as the total flight time by human factors
engineering technique applied on the interior of the
passengers’ cockpit or cabin. The design to maximize the
quality of Earth surface able to be viewed by the
passengers will be as important as the design to increase
the time of zero gravity experienced by the passengers.
Suborbital tourism spaceplanes will not fly further from
spaceports, or higher than 150km from sea level, because
they are designed to carry as minimum fuel as possible
for economic reason. With such limitation, the location of
the spaceports will be very significant in determining the
quality of Earth surface to be available for the passengers
to view from space, as the passengers can only view the
scenery within the perimeter of several hundred
kilometers from the spaceports.
With VTOL capable suborbital tourism spaceplanes,
spaceports with runways are not needed. Instead,
spacepads can be built at exotic locations which will
offer exotic scenery of Earth surface to the passengers.
Spacepads can also be built with a lower cost compared
to conventional commercial spaceports with runways
because spacepads do not require runways and hence
large space. This advantage will further develop and
spread the space tourism industry to many parts of the
world, where before were considered geographically or
financially incapable of operating the industry.
Spacepads can even be built at popular mountain top
tourism destinations with limited space, such as the
central European Alps. These mountains with permanent
ice cap at their top will be bright and clearly visible from
nd
space. The different vegetation at different height and the
existence of large lakes around the mountains will make
the scenery colorful and more attractive.
To enable the passengers to view specific objects which
maybe too small to be clearly visible from space,
Langkasa 2 and Langkasa 4 will be equipped with high
magnification and resolution video cameras. This will
enable the passengers to focus and view objects such as
famous large landmarks from space.
The emergence of spacepad in space tourism will also
create interest and involvement in the industry from other
fields, which before was seen as separated from space
tourism. The operation of spacepad aboard luxury ocean
liners will create interest and involvement from the fields
of naval architecture and shipyard, while the operation of
spacepad on top of high rise building will attract the
interest and involvement from the fields of architecture
and civil engineering.
The involvement of organizations and people from
outside the traditional space tourism community will
enrich space tourism with new ideas and creativity and
will make space tourism become more influencing and
popular.
5. REFERENCES
1. Ridzuan Zakaria, N. Mettauer, A. Abu, J. Roshdi
Hassan, M. Taufeek Ismail, A. Othman, J. Zhuhaida
Shaari, C. Nasron, N. (May 2010). Human Factors
Engineering in Designing the Passengers’ Cockpit of
the Malaysian Commercial Suborbital Spaceplane,
4th International Association for the Advancement of
Space Safety conference, Huntsville, AL, USA.
2. Ashford, D (August 2009). An Aviation Approach to
Space Transportation, The Aeronautical Journal,
Volume 113 No 1146.
6. SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Alpina Langkasa (Figures 1,5,8,9,10).
2. Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter. (Figures
2,3,6 & 7).
3. www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?89
961-Indian-Armed-Forces/page221. (Figure 4).
7. THE AUTHORS
All the authors are the most senior members of the Board
of Executive Directors of Space Tourism Society
Malaysia Chapter.