Welcome Home OTV-2

[TLAM Strike]

The 2nd X-37B which had been in orbit for the last 15 months returned to Earth yesterday.

The official duration for OTV-2 was 468 days, 13 hours and 2 minutes on a voyage that circled the globe more than 7,000 times. The single-mission numbers surpassed the flight time amassed and orbits accumulated by any of the individual space shuttles in their reusable lives. Discovery had the fleet-leading credentials at 365 days and 5,800 orbits on 39 trips to space.

Impressive.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/...ing/index.html

Can't wait for one that can do a 5 year mission.

[Carthaginian]

I'll be impressed when they put something that can carry people back into orbit.
(Although the Chair Force having the ability to precision bomb from space is kinda cool.)

I don't care if we build a super-Apollo or another reusable craft (though I favor the super-Apollo approach), I just want the United States to hang onto our lead. We also need to get ourselves geared up for an off-planet settlement... even if it is only 'seasonal' in the beginning. Lunar dust is pretty hazardous from what I read, so it will require a lot of air purification tech to get a settlement there that will be 'safe'- but it will be worth it as an experimental site for future settlements farther out.

[geetrue]

They should put a nose cone on this OTV-2 that can catch space junk to save the ISS ... well they should do something at least

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Carthaginian

I'll be impressed when they put something that can carry people back into orbit.

Afraid future manned missions rest on a need to match another country's manned program.

Oooops we got that...
(With all those orbital changes I wonder if they are planning an RV with the Mighty Orbiting Air Conditioner of Allah.)

[Carthaginian]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Afraid future manned missions rest on a need to match another country's manned program.
Oooops we got that...
(With all those orbital changes I wonder if they are planning an RV with the Mighty Orbiting Air Conditioner of Allah.)

No, a manned program is contingent upon our country realizing "if we don't, they will."

Unfortunately, it is the current policy of both parties to think that space exploration is less important than vote buying- whether they are buying the votes of the rich (guys in red ties) or the poor (guys in blue ties).

What we need- and what I fear- is another 'Sputnik Moment'... where we realize that we are suddenly so far behind that we must devote every effort to catching up. With the Russians it was seeing them build a rocket that could not only park a man in orbit, but which could also park nuclear warheads on our doorsteps...

What must the Chinese do to catch our attention- and will we be able to truly catch up afterwards?


BTW: 'Mighty Orbiting Air Conditioner of Allah'?
What did I miss?
Who ELSE is in the club now?

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Carthaginian

No, a manned program is contingent upon our country realizing "if we don't, they will."

Unfortunately, it is the current policy of both parties to think that space exploration is less important than vote buying- whether they are buying the votes of the rich (guys in red ties) or the poor (guys in blue ties).

What we need- and what I fear- is another 'Sputnik Moment'... where we realize that we are suddenly so far behind that we must devote every effort to catching up. With the Russians it was seeing them build a rocket that could not only park a man in orbit, but which could also park nuclear warheads on our doorsteps...

What must the Chinese do to catch our attention- and will we be able to truly catch up afterwards?

I'm afraid that our current society would witness a "sputnik moment" and not care. The Soviets launched a orbital battle station in the 1980s that could have carried both laser and nuclear weapons save for a guidance malfunction that sent it crashing in to the sea. Today such weapons could be built and launched by any one of a dozen nations and frankly we would only know about it if we had a man on the inside or we send someone or something up to inspect the thing (...yea I wonder what...).

The scary thing is that the first country to orbit another Polyus in a sufficiently high orbit is in a position to dictate who gets to use the orbits below it, and frankly who gets to inhabit the planet below it.

To quote Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri:

God, from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
Shall tremble, he descending, will himself,
In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets' sound,
Ordain them laws.

-- John Milton,
Paradise Lost

Quite apt that game use this quote to describe an orbital weapon's system.

BTW: 'Mighty Orbiting Air Conditioner of Allah'?
What did I miss?
Who ELSE is in the club now?

We had a topic on it a while back:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=192141

[Carthaginian]

Yeah, we did luck out that the Sovs didn't get their laser into orbit. It could have caused no end of damage to our satellites- though I'm sure that the Orbiters would have had the capacity to launch a strike against it... whether we were told about it or not. Lots of things could fit into that cargo bay- including an mass-quantity type kinetic-kill weapon.

And I have to laugh at the placement of the Iranian 'satellite' as well- wonder if the thing is still working. No telling how much dust it would have sucked up there. Looks like they won't be too big a danger.


Either way, we've missed the fact that the Chinese plan to starve millions of their slave laborers in order to get to the moon and beyond. Perhaps the Chinese launching a moon mission is what it will take...