Posted on 12/04/2010 12:49:40 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The wonderfully sort-of-secret X-37B is back on terra firma after a long stay in space. Very little information beyond its appearance, dimensions and the fact that the Air Force is deploying it is known about the vehicle, which looks a lot like a mini space shuttle. The vehicle can stay in orbit for at least nine months.
As someone who spent five years at Space News — much of that time covering intelligence issues — I’m going to engage in some informed speculation.
It could take advanced sensors into space for testing and, probably, allow sensors to operate from the X-35B as a large, stable platform with an independent power source. That power source (folding solar panels) might free sensors from carrying batteries, which would make them much smaller and lighter and perhaps extend their operational life.
One set of sensors the nation desperately needs would be related to space situational awareness — small telescopes, infrared and other sensors. The X-37B might be ideally suited to this sort of mission
(Excerpt) Read more at dodbuzz.com ...
Ping
What the X-37 does offer is a platform to test technologies over a long period of time and return them to Earth economically without the the expense and public exposure of a Shuttle launch.
What can it do? Basically it can prove that all those $billions we’ve spent on the space shuttles was wasted, and the lifting body reentry vehicle (LBRV) projects were right all along. That’s what it can do.
It still takes a large chemical rocket to put it into
orbit. Not something that you can keep secret. The
fact that almost anyone with a home computer
could track it AND clearly discern that it doesn’t
obey simple, predictable orbital patterns is also
interesting. They did do a decent job of not
disclosing what it was doing over the test period.
Mike
I see this as a scale test for larger, unmanned space vehicles that can launch, maneuver and return.
I also think they will eliminate the Atlas V and use an alternative launch system for real-world deployment.
NIRTSats!
anything it wants to do... Gosh!
The X-37B is cool and all but what we really could use are massive heavy lifters. The old Saturn V was great...it was a mistake to shut down its production. We need something even bigger than the old Sat V to lift enormous payloads like a mission to Mars or 1200ft satellite dishes into geosynchronous orbit (the 350ft sats we have up now need to be much larger.)
A commercial system of satellites in geosynchronous orbit that had large antennas would create a worldwide high-speed data network that could work with nearly microscopic equipment on the ground. Anything and everything could be connected to it...it would change the way the world works.
The slight lag due to the speed of light and the 45,000 mile circuit would be a pain for some things though.
This spacecraft will have the ability to kill enemy orbiting surveillance and communication satellites in the event of a confrontation (Russia, China).
“Slight lag”?? LOL. Perhaps you aren’t old enough to remember the protocol used for talking over geosynch sat linked phones. Speak. Stop speaking. Wait 3 seconds for response. If no response, speak again. Stop speaking. Wait 3 seconds for response. Let other party speak. Wait for them to stop speaking. Wait 1 - 2 seconds and begin speaking. It was just awful.
People today are totally spoiled by the massive global undersea network of multiple OC192 fiber optic channels running through fiber.
exactly...
Yes!
Spot on
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