Mysterious X-37B unmanned space shuttle launched by U.S

[BloodEclipse]

X-37B unmanned space shuttle to be launched tonight | Mail Online

I must live in a cave, because this is the first I have heard about this.

 

[WWIIIDefender]

Military+secret=The plans for the total distruction of something. Maybe they know something about 2012 that we don't know or maybe there is a global killer heading our way.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

The info has been out for a matter of months but it has been kept low-key. No site that I know of has info on what the use/purpose of it is, just that "the primary technology demonstration is proving that the concept works and it is the first autonomous orbiter/self-lander."

My guess? An eavesdropping platform and/or camera platform that is easier to move around the planet than the current satellites.

 

[SavageEagle]

Unmanned space shuttle? We gave up the Shuttle for this crap?!?!?!

 

[shooter521]

We gave up the Shuttle for this crap?!?!?!

No; we (NASA) gave up the shuttle(s) because they're old.

The X-37 is an Air Force project.

 

[jedi]

An eavesdropping platform and/or camera platform that is easier to move around the planet than the current satellites.

^This. Sats have a fixed timer interval to take data at certain points on the globe. Yes they can be moved but it's expensive "in terms of limited fuel" they carry when in orbit. Move having a more "mobile" platform that can orbit like a sat but then move to another orbit gives us better eyes in the sky.

But we are no where near the level of T3 days yet when unmanned everything is on the battlefield. This is still just development stages and to see that the concept is possible in terms of hard/software.

Nothing for you gun Nuts to worry about. Big Brother already knows who owns guns and were ya live. They can take those easily enough.

 

[Blaze261]

Nuke? Iran? Don't really know just what my first thought was.

 

[SavageEagle]

No; we (NASA) gave up the shuttle(s) because they're old.

The X-37 is an Air Force project.

Just because they're old doesn't mean they don't still work. I mean, go to an air show sometime. I still see P51's and P38's flying. Doesn't mean they aren't still effective.

Now we're outsourcing to other countries like Russia. We have failed the NASA program.

 

[BloodEclipse]

Just because they're old doesn't mean they don't still work. I mean, go to an air show sometime. I still see P51's and P38's flying. Doesn't mean they aren't still effective.

Now we're outsourcing to other countries like Russia. OBAMA has failed the NASA program.

FTFY

 

[mrjarrell]

The decision to finally ground the shuttle fleet was taken during the Bush regime, not Obama's. Obama has chosen to get rid of previously approved programs and had nothing to do with the shuttle fleet retirement. These spacecraft are old and in need of retirement. The stresses they go through cannot even begin to be compared to those that an airplane has experienced.

 

[SavageEagle]

The decision to finally ground the shuttle fleet was taken during the Bush regime, not Obama's. Obama has chosen to get rid of previously approved programs and had nothing to do with the shuttle fleet retirement. These spacecraft are old and in need of retirement. The stresses they go through cannot even begin to be compared to those that an airplane has experienced.

True on both points. However, like the P51 you see at an airshow, it has been retrofitted and fixed up and well maintained. Much as the shuttles have been. No reason they can't keep these shuttles running or just build two-three more with improvements.

I'm just not happy about the whole un-manned space flight thing.

 

[shooter521]

I mean, go to an air show sometime.

I might have to try that.

I still see P51's and P38's flying. Doesn't mean they aren't still effective.

Yes, they're still airworthy, but they cost BIG to maintain because parts are no longer available and have to be scavenged from a continually-shrinking pool, or custom made. And whether or not they are "effective" in the present day depends on what kind of environment they're operating in and what you need them to do. You wouldn't seriously argue that a fleet of P51s could maintain air superiority over a modern battlefield, would you? So how can a shuttle designed in the 1970s be expected to keep up with the needs of a 21st Century space program? The shuttles should've been retired a long time ago, and replaced with something lighter/cheaper/more capable, whether it's a manned or unmanned system. Or forget about bussing astronauts to and from the ISS entirely and focus on the next generation of manned systems to go to the moon, Mars and beyond.

My

 

[gglass]

This was actually a test flight for Obama's escape capsule. Once he brings down the country and the world, he knows that he won't be able to find a pilot willing to fly him out of here.

 

[SavageEagle]

So how can a shuttle designed in the 1970s be expected to keep up with the needs of a 21st Century space program? The shuttles should've been retired a long time ago, and replaced with something lighter/cheaper/more capable, whether it's a manned or unmanned system. Or forget about bussing astronauts to and from the ISS entirely and focus on the next generation of manned systems to go to the moon, Mars and beyond.

My

They are work horses. Cargo planes, so to speak. Sure, we should have been working on something better, but instead Bush wanted to fight two wars. That doesn't mean we should retire ships that still do the job until we have something better.

These little unmanned crafts are good for little more than satellite launching and destroying soviet satellites and the like. That can be done with the rocket sending it to orbit. These are not going to fly more parts for the ISS without sending two or more at a time. With the fuel and manpower it takes to launch one of these toys, we could have 1/4 of a new ship built. Air Force or Nasa, it's all the same money and it's being wasted.

 

[Boilers]

Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon - Times Online

Surveillance Suspected as Spacecraft’s Main Role - NYTimes.com

 

[SavageEagle]

Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon - Times Online

With all the focus on the launch of the secret X37B, another space launch by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California received less attention.
It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.
The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead.

Prompt Global Strike - A missile to hit anywhere in 1 hr :: Brahmand.com

Prompt Global Strike (PGS) is an initiative of the United States military to develop a system capable of a conventional weapon strike anywhere in the world within an hour.

The system is designed for time-critical strike in emergency situation, or to counter terrorist activities like attacking a terrorist leader based on inputs of his location, or against a rogue state preparing to launch an attack by localised destruction of his weapon assets.

Need for Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) can be described in a given scenario where the United States has learned of a terrorist group’s plan to transport a nuclear weapon, and the opportunity to intercept the shipment is both urgent and fleeting. In this scenario, there are no U S military forces close to the expected shipping point and one weapon type in the US arsenal can reach the point in time - a nuclear-armed ballistic missile.

Read the rest at the source. Sounds like an interesting new weapon.

Another article on the PGS weapon system...

NTI: Global Security Newswire - U.S. Military Eyes Fielding "Prompt Global Strike" Weapon by 2015

Good stuff...

 

[SmileDocHill]

Fenway has been strangely silent on this matter. Contractual obligation??? I think so! This is the new INGO satellite, folks. The last upgrade to the new server was way too much hassle and he is thinking ahead now. Just think you are all going to be able to say "I was a member before INGO took over the world."

 

[Von Mises]

Having spent my entire professional career in the Aerospace field, I’d like to offer something for your consideration. The story is rather lengthy, so I’ll do my best to be brief.

Let me start by saying that without question, we got the best scientists Germany had to offer from WWII. We had some very good ones too……

4 October 1957. The Russians launch Sputnik. Our government panics, pulls our scientists from their research and demand that we catch up. Some of you will remember the series of failures experienced by our space program in the late 50’s and early 60s.

So what was it that our scientists were working on in the 10 years from 1947 to 1957?

Trans-atmospheric Flight.

Work on the A-12 “began” in late 1957, with production starting in 1962. Does the A-12 look familiar? 5 years from “concept” to the production version of an aircraft that was so advanced that it’s variant (SR-71) holds records for velocity and altitude nearly 50 years later.

It’s worth noting that the J-58 engine first ran in 1958. How would such an advanced engine exist less than a year after the “concept” was launched? It didn’t. In reality, the program had been in full stride for several years prior to the “official” launch in 1957.

Shortly after WWII, the newly formed USAF, Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney, was developing the ability to take off from a runway, fly into orbit, re-enter the atmosphere, and fly under power to land at another airfield.

The A-12, and later the SR-71, was the culmination of advanced research, development and technology gathered up to the point where orders (funding) were changed

The only question I have is; Being so close to trans-atmospheric flight, why did the government redirect our efforts? Did they simply not know how close we were? Was it petty squabbling between the Navy and the USAF over rightful ownership of such technology?

My point? As far back as 1947, our best and brightest considered rockets to be antiquated in theory, and unnecessary for advanced flight profiles. Knowing this bit of little known, and highly guarded history, rocket powered launch vehicles in general, and the Shuttle specifically, were antiquated at the moment of concept.

It’s time to stop playing with rockets, and start thinking about advanced technology. Like we did 54 years ago.

This message will self destruct in 10 seconds.

 

[Boilers]

How much advanced stuff is just hidden, secret, nowadays?
What has replaced the SR-71?

 

[Von Mises]

How much advanced stuff is just hidden, secret, nowadays?
What has replaced the SR-71?

As far as I know, nothing. The F-22 is boss from the standpoint of taking war to an enemy. Unfortunately, this program was killed by Obama just as opportunities for major technological advancement was being realized.

I try to keep “my ear to the ground” so to speak, with regard to the Aerospace community. Since the cancellation of the F22, and other intriguing projects, it has been stone quite.