How about devices that can pick up human voices from ground and turn them into signals that can be recorded in space?
OR, brain wave reading from space to listen into the thoughts of enemy leaders?
Posted on 05/25/2010 9:31:59 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
A small army of workers quickly gave the Vandenberg Air Force Base runway a makeover in readiness for an unmanned spaceplane’s landing.
Military officials called the recent runway hardware retrofit a necessary step to prep for the planned landing of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
The unmanned reusable spacecraft launched aboard an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in April.
At the time, officials said X-37B — with a wingspan of nearly 15 feet, a length of 29 feet and height of less than 10 feet — could spend up to nine months testing technologies in orbit before returning to Earth.
Vandenberg is considered the likely landing site for X-37B, which will use its autopilot system to return. Edwards Air Force Base is a backup possibility.
To prevent damage to the reusable vehicle during landing, approximately 80 people from various units at Vandenberg replaced 658 plates along the flight line’s centerline.
The “sheer number of plates and the time constraints” were huge factors, according to Dell Barritt, director of Vandenberg’s Training Device Design and Engineering Center.
“It was of major importance, not only to us but to Vandenberg, the Air Force and Boeing. Everyone worked together as a team to ensure the runway was prepared for the safe return of the X-37B,” Barritt said.
The crews worked three Saturdays when the airstrip was inactive to modify the flight line for the spacecraft’s unique landing wheel design.
“The experimental nature of the X-37B necessitated the urgency of the modifications in case of an unscheduled landing,” said Lt. Col. Troy Giese, the Air Force’s X-37B Systems Program director
(Excerpt) Read more at santamariatimes.com ...
/johnny
How about devices that can pick up human voices from ground and turn them into signals that can be recorded in space?
OR, brain wave reading from space to listen into the thoughts of enemy leaders?
Ping.
Vandyland ping
Bookmark
Odd. Why didn’t they do this before it launched? What if it had to make a quick return?
Bump
It very well might have taken place before launch. The article states it took place over three Sundays, but they don't say which three Sundays those were.
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