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CSM: Air Force to launch X-37 space plane: Precursor to war in orbit?(Merged)

JMS

By JMS
in The Tailgate

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JMS

JMS

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Just when you thought we were falling behind in the space race... The Airforce which has a space budget about twice that of NASA openns a crack into one of their projects.

This is only one of five different prototypes for planes capable of reaching orbit. I've seen fighter prototypes and bomber ones... Figure recon would be another....

It's the US militaries plan to secure the high ground in the event of war... with a series of planes, bombers, temporary satilites capable of traveling at atround 5 miles per second... or 18000 miles per hour.... compare that to the blackbird which had an acknowledged speed of 2200 mph, which we thought was fast.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0420/Air-Force-to-launch-X-37-space-plane-Precursor-to-war-in-orbit

Air Force to launch X-37 space plane: Precursor to war in orbit?

The Air Force is to launch the first test flight of the X-37 pilotless space plane Wednesday. It's meant to stay aloft for months, but its mission is secret, leading some to worry about its purpose.

0420-air-force-X37B.jpg_full_380.jpg

Washington

Clear, sunny skies are forecast for Cape Canaveral Wednesday, perfect weather for the launch of a new unmanned spacecraft and the dawn of an era. Just don’t expect the Air Force to tell you what that new era is.

For the first time, the service will launch the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a brand new, unmanned spacecraft to demonstrate the military’s ability to fly into space, circle the globe for months on end, and return intact, only to fly again.

But whether the X-37 space plane is merely showing off nearly two decades of research and development or is actually a precursor to militarizing the final frontier, is far from clear since the vehicle’s payload is classified. An Air Force official won’t even say when it will return to California or where it will land. But it can “loiter” over the globe for more than nine months.

“In all honesty, we don’t know when it’s coming back,” said Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary for the Air Force’s space programs, in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

'Weaponization' of space?

Arms control advocates say it is pretty clearly the beginning of a “weaponization of space” – precursor to a precision global strike capability that would allow the US to hover for months at a time over anywhere it chose with little anyone could do about it.

“The idea of being able to launch an unmanned research platform that can stay up there for months on end provides you with all kinds of capability, both military and civilian,” says Chris Hellman, a policy analyst with the National Priorities Project, a budget watchdog in Northampton, Mass.

He believes the fact that it is an Air Force initiative may say something about what it will ultimately used to do. And that may not sit well with others. “I can see where the prospect of having half a dozen of these things with unknown payloads circling overhead could be very troubling to people,” Mr. Hellman says.

What the Air Force will say is that the X-37 will demonstrate “various experiments” and allow “satellite sensors, subsystems, components, and associated technology” to be transported into space and back. Officials say the vehicle could change the way the service operates by making space operations more “aircraft like” with a vehicle like the X-37 able to take off and later land and then fly again.

When it returns, scientists will determine how many of its components survived the flight and how long it will take to get the craft back into the air. The shorter the turnaround time, the better, since that would mean fewer X-37s would have to be built, regardless of its ultimate mission.

If it takes a long time to get the bird back in the air, “it will make this vehicle less attractive to us in the future,” Mr. Payton said.

Many unknowns, including ultimate mission

Still, there are many unknowns. And analysts who typically know about such things are left to shrug.

“There does not seem to be a publicly acknowledged capability that this thing will lead to,” says John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a national security research organization in Alexandria, Va. “If taken at face value, it seems to be simply to satisfy the idle curiosity of the scientific community.”

Mr. Pike believes one of the inherent values of the X-37 could be as a maneuverable satellite which could be used to look over China's shoulder one day, yet evade any attempts to shoot it down.

On the other hand, says Pike, it could amount to nothing more than “recreational engineering,” borrowing a term from the magazine Scientific American. “What’s a few hundred million dollars between friends?”

Whatever it is or represents, the Air Force likes it. Air Force officials say they are already building another X-37 spacecraft that it hopes to fly by 2011.

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Larry

Larry

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What have you done with my Illudium Pu-32 Explosive Space Modulator?

But, seriously. The difference between this and an unmanned Space Shuttle is . . . ?

Still, there are many unknowns. And analysts who typically know about such things are left to shrug.

“There does not seem to be a publicly acknowledged capability that this thing will lead to,” says John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a national security research organization in Alexandria, Va. “If taken at face value, it seems to be simply to satisfy the idle curiosity of the scientific community.”

Mr. Pike believes one of the inherent values of the X-37 could be as a maneuverable satellite which could be used to look over China's shoulder one day, yet evade any attempts to shoot it down.

On the other hand, says Pike, it could amount to nothing more than “recreational engineering,” borrowing a term from the magazine Scientific American. “What’s a few hundred million dollars between friends?”

Maybe the purpose of the X-37 is (gasp) experimental research?

What was the military mission of the X-15?

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Mad Mike

Mad Mike

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Cracks me up when people get bent out of shape about the American "weaponization of space" or some other American weapons research. As if we are the only ones working on these things. If only bad ol America would stop, the Russians, Chinese, and every one else would convert their weapons programs to produce cotton candy instead. Someone is going to have the high ground. I sure hope it's us.

This thing looks like it's first and main mission will be recon. But with a removable/changeable payload anything is possible. Maybe something like the Thor system Robert Heinlein proposed. A kinetic kill weapon that he basically described as guided crowbars dropped from space.

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ABQCOWBOY

ABQCOWBOY

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What have you done with my Illudium Pu-32 Explosive Space Modulator?

But, seriously. The difference between this and an unmanned Space Shuttle is . . . ?

Maybe the purpose of the X-37 is (gasp) experimental research?

What was the military mission of the X-15?

Armaments I would imagine.

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China

China

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This thing looks like it's first and main mission will be recon.

This was what I thought when reading the article. They will first use it as a spy plane. Why else would they not know when it is coming back down, unless of course they really do, but don't want to publicize that information.

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JMS

JMS

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But, seriously. The difference between this and an unmanned Space Shuttle is . . . ?

These are all red projects, which means we can only guess... but let me speak authoritatively on this anyway for a second..... We are playing around with several different configurations of these planes. In the popular mechanics article it says the fighter configuration is designed to both protect and defend against space based weapons deployed by other nations. 18000 mph and it can manuver like a jet.

Can you say military advantage? We could take out their anti sattilite devices hundreds of miles from their targets, They would have to wait for our birds to come into range, we could fly out and whack theirs anytime we liked.

Oh and if you did get one of our satilites we could send one of these unmanned jobbers over to take it's place for a year at a time.

As for unmanned shuttle. I think these birds can be manned or unmanned. They are much smaller than the shuttle....

Maybe the purpose of the X-37 is (gasp) experimental research?

What was the military mission of the X-15?

Actually the X-37 is already old technology (my guess)... else we wouldn't be hearing about it. All we know for sure is the military has twice the budget for space than NASA does, and they are working with multiples of these prototype space planes.

NASA's budget in 2009 was about 17 billlion....

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/feb/HQ_08034_FY2009_budget.html

Total US space spending in 2009 was estimated at $48.8 billion

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100223-survey-space-agencies-spending-grew-last-decade.html

Which means the military is speding about 31 billion in space . ( my guestimate.)

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JMS

JMS

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Cracks me up when people get bent out of shape about the American "weaponization of space" or some other American weapons research. As if we are the only ones working on these things. If only bad ol America would stop, the Russians, Chinese, and every one else would convert their weapons programs to produce cotton candy instead. Someone is going to have the high ground. I sure hope it's us.

Well the US has consistantly rebuked any attempt to create a treaty to not weaponize space since the late 1970's. Our weaponization of space is one of the worst kept secrets ever. Still the specifics are new.

I also know China has worked on several devices to destroy satilites. Not sure about Russia but wouldn't suprise me..... Looks like our space weapons are cooler.

This thing looks like it's first and main mission will be recon. But with a removable/changeable payload anything is possible. Maybe something like the Thor system Robert Heinlein proposed. A kinetic kill weapon that he basically described as guided crowbars dropped from space.

Could be... Could be a lasser to knock out ICBM's... Could be a nuke which would fall to it's target without any launch signature. Could be a small satilite.

Like I said, Popular Mechanics had pictures of prototypes which they claimed would serve in a fighter role in space.... to fly by and destroy enemy satilights and space weaponry... unmanned and manned flavors.

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JMS

JMS

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Sure, I like to set off fireworks now and then, but shooting off rockets is hardly trying to destroy satellites. ;)

Sorry for the confusion, I meant the other china...

They have experimented with anti satilite misiles, and lasers to blind satilites.

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mjah

mjah

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As for unmanned shuttle. I think these birds can be manned or unmanned. They are much smaller than the shuttle....

About 1/4 the size of the Shuttle, meaning the hardware for a life-sustaining environment (even just for 1-2 humans) is relatively a much bigger operational "tax" on the X-37 than on the Shuttle. Lots of additional money, weight, design, prep time, testing, certification, and complexity.

Declassified info on the X-37 says it's purely unmanned, for whatever that's worth. I imagine that a manned vehicle would require a totally different variant of the hardware, or just flat-out totally different hardware. I don't see why manned capability should be impossible on this little thing, but I also don't see why it should be important enough to justify all that added headache for a craft that's capable of carrying out its entire mission (as far as we know) sans meat.

Of course, it's the secret missions that we don't know about. George Jetson needs to commute to work somehow.

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Braxford

Braxford

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Russia, China, the EU all of them are trying to build weapons for space so I am not surprised the US is and actually I am glad. Conflict will eventually come in space or over space whether we like it or not. Better to be prepared than pulverized.

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Chump Bailey

Chump Bailey

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1268138/X-37B-unmanned-space-shuttle-launched-tonight.html

Star Wars 2010? U.S. military launch space plane on maiden voyage... but its mission is top secret

A top secret space plane developed by the US military has blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its maiden voyage.

Billed as a small shuttle, the unmanned X-37B heralds the next generation of space exploration. It will be the first craft to carry out an autonomous re-entry in the history of the US programme.

But its mission - and its cost - remain shrouded in secrecy.

The Air Force said the launch was a success but would give no further details.

However, experts have said the spacecraft was intended to speed up development of combat-support systems and weapons systems.

There have already been accusations that the programme could lead to the 'weaponisation' of space.

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