[Jaysun]

Great. Some private guys just made it to space in a hang glider and NASA wants to demonstrate their competence by shooting missiles into the ocean. Send them another $100 billion!

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

You don't care to see your tax dollars spent on innovations in aerospace technology? You'd prefer some other nation to take the lead? Perhaps we should defer to France or the U.K.? Or maybe encourage the U.N. to take over our space program? We'll continue to fund it, just let them run things.

It means something to be a leader and sometimes we have to spend tax dollars on something bigger than ourselves instead of just making improvments on your comfort zone.

[dasboot]

I think this is the technology that will allow us to deliver payloads of nastiness 1/3 the way around the globe on two hours' notice; and upgrade anti-missile defenses.

Good deterrent.

[LibLieSlayer]

Besides the obvious scientific uses for this machine...

Picture if you will, say several thousand pounds of some really nasty stuff packed into the nose of that puppy... launched unmanned from Vandenberg, and flying at 15,000 miles per hour... and it is programmed by satellite to lay da "smackdown" on bin laden! Nose camera delivers "realtime" video evidence.

Money damn well spent!

LLS

[edwin hubble]

"Great. Some private guys just made it to space in a hang glider and NASA wants to demonstrate their competence by shooting missiles into the ocean. Send them another $100 billion!"


In the development of this scramjet engine the US is way out in front on an otherwise unknown technology.

It will lead to fractional orbit craft and finally runway-to-orbit spacecraft.

The private sub-orbital craft are great, but they have only a third of the speed of the NASA scramjet, and about seventh of the speed needed for orbit.