An explosion at Scaled Composites kills three.
I certainly can't find the words for the famileis of those killed and injured at this point. Getting to space has its risks - and this is one of them.
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Blackstar: Real Deal, or Misdirection?
My co-blogger discussed Blackstar last year when Aviation Week had it on the cover.
I've always had two questions about Blackstar:
1. Why that architecture?
2. Why then?
The second question is the real puzzle. Contrary to popular belief, governments can usually keep this sort of thing secret. We knew absolutely nothing about the F-117 prior to the Defense Department announcing it in 1988. We didn't get a chance to see one up close until 1990.
In the early 1990s, Aviation Week carried a number of stories about exotic aircraft. At that time, the reason was obvious: budgets were getting cut, and while black projects are relatively easy to keep alive (because their natural enemies most likely do not know about them), they're also, ironically, fairly easy to kill when funds get tight (because their natural allies most likely do not know about them). The only way to garner support for such a program is to make some judicious leaks here and there.
No such event militated in favor of revealing Blackstar last year.
Now, to the question of architecture. The Blackstar design requires the mothership to tote the entire spacecraft up to launch altitude; it requires high-speed separation of spacecraft and mother ship (which is hazardous to both); and it requires exotic equipment (mating and demating facilities in particular).
In short, it's for those who want to go to space in the worst possible way.
Now, consider the vehicle described in this link. Size is held to a minimum by using aerial refueling to transfer oxidizer to the vehicle after launch; infrastructure requirements and prelaunch checklists are held to a minimum because the fuel and oxidizer are non-cryogenic; the bird can take off and land from just about any Air Force base worldwide if necessary; and the resulting "Black Horse" spaceplane is about the same size as an F-16.
Consider, also, the fact that this paper is part of a larger study conducted in 1993-1994. That's thirteen years ago--more than enough time to build hardware, validate it, and put it into service.
That's thirteen years ago. The estimated cost for an RDT&E program was $150 million. Allowing for the usual tripling of RDT&E costs, that's about half a billion. Everett Dirksen's quip about "a billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money" comes to mind. In a national budget of over two trillion dollars, $500 million is a rounding error.
So perhaps we have an aerospace wing based out at Groom Lake, ready to rain "Rods from God" down onto the heads of evildoers and miscreants around the world.
How to cover up the odd sonic boom as a Black Horse boosts into orbit? Simple, blame it on a concept that's borderline unworkable and probably never made it past initial hardware testing.
It's the magician distracting you with his left hand while his right hand palms the card . . .
I've always had two questions about Blackstar:
1. Why that architecture?
2. Why then?
The second question is the real puzzle. Contrary to popular belief, governments can usually keep this sort of thing secret. We knew absolutely nothing about the F-117 prior to the Defense Department announcing it in 1988. We didn't get a chance to see one up close until 1990.
In the early 1990s, Aviation Week carried a number of stories about exotic aircraft. At that time, the reason was obvious: budgets were getting cut, and while black projects are relatively easy to keep alive (because their natural enemies most likely do not know about them), they're also, ironically, fairly easy to kill when funds get tight (because their natural allies most likely do not know about them). The only way to garner support for such a program is to make some judicious leaks here and there.
No such event militated in favor of revealing Blackstar last year.
Now, to the question of architecture. The Blackstar design requires the mothership to tote the entire spacecraft up to launch altitude; it requires high-speed separation of spacecraft and mother ship (which is hazardous to both); and it requires exotic equipment (mating and demating facilities in particular).
In short, it's for those who want to go to space in the worst possible way.
Now, consider the vehicle described in this link. Size is held to a minimum by using aerial refueling to transfer oxidizer to the vehicle after launch; infrastructure requirements and prelaunch checklists are held to a minimum because the fuel and oxidizer are non-cryogenic; the bird can take off and land from just about any Air Force base worldwide if necessary; and the resulting "Black Horse" spaceplane is about the same size as an F-16.
Consider, also, the fact that this paper is part of a larger study conducted in 1993-1994. That's thirteen years ago--more than enough time to build hardware, validate it, and put it into service.
That's thirteen years ago. The estimated cost for an RDT&E program was $150 million. Allowing for the usual tripling of RDT&E costs, that's about half a billion. Everett Dirksen's quip about "a billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money" comes to mind. In a national budget of over two trillion dollars, $500 million is a rounding error.
So perhaps we have an aerospace wing based out at Groom Lake, ready to rain "Rods from God" down onto the heads of evildoers and miscreants around the world.
How to cover up the odd sonic boom as a Black Horse boosts into orbit? Simple, blame it on a concept that's borderline unworkable and probably never made it past initial hardware testing.
It's the magician distracting you with his left hand while his right hand palms the card . . .
Monday, April 23, 2007
Astronauts take risks...
It might seem trite, but the recent report about the latest spacewalk should dispel all doubts. Nice to see they are making changes.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
To the moon...
NASA is going back to the moon, then Mars, according to AJ-Strata.
It's a worthy goal - one we should have had in the 1960s. Better late than never on that front. That said, we do have a bit of a short-term problem. It's called 99942 Apophos (link is to an earlier post). It's coming in on an approach that could lead it to hit Earth in 2036. We have the technology to make this 300-meter wide problem go away.
I suggest we get moving on it NOW. A modified NEAR-Shoemaker, swapping out the scientific instruments for a USAF/USN physics package, would be able to do the job just fine.
It's a worthy goal - one we should have had in the 1960s. Better late than never on that front. That said, we do have a bit of a short-term problem. It's called 99942 Apophos (link is to an earlier post). It's coming in on an approach that could lead it to hit Earth in 2036. We have the technology to make this 300-meter wide problem go away.
I suggest we get moving on it NOW. A modified NEAR-Shoemaker, swapping out the scientific instruments for a USAF/USN physics package, would be able to do the job just fine.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Too much movie-watching at NASA?
Given their approach to Apophis, I have to wonder.
I think the latest issue of Popular Mechanics had some good information on this. That said, the answer is really simple. We build a variant of NEAR-Shoemaker. The NEAR-Shoemaker probe successfully landed on an asteroid and remained in contact for 17 days. That is more than enough time for what we need it to do.
You see, in this case, we can modify the baseline NEAR-Shoemaker with a physics package from one of DOD's special stores. Land the probe on the asteroid, activate the physics package, and the problem should be solved. And we have plenty of time. We just need to get off our butts and do it.
Or do we want to get hit?
I think the latest issue of Popular Mechanics had some good information on this. That said, the answer is really simple. We build a variant of NEAR-Shoemaker. The NEAR-Shoemaker probe successfully landed on an asteroid and remained in contact for 17 days. That is more than enough time for what we need it to do.
You see, in this case, we can modify the baseline NEAR-Shoemaker with a physics package from one of DOD's special stores. Land the probe on the asteroid, activate the physics package, and the problem should be solved. And we have plenty of time. We just need to get off our butts and do it.
Or do we want to get hit?
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Blackstar...
If Aviation Leak - I mean, Aviation Week - is to be believed, the United States developed a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle. The first stage involved a modified B-70 airframe. The second stage was one of two small orbiters. Reportedly, it was operational in the 1990s.
This certainly would explain why the SR-71 was retired in 1990. This sounds an awful lot like the Aurora program that was also widely discussed in that timeframe. Funding probably was hidden inside the X-30 project (the NASP/COPPER CANYON), and some may have been diverted from the A-12 as well.
This certainly would explain why the SR-71 was retired in 1990. This sounds an awful lot like the Aurora program that was also widely discussed in that timeframe. Funding probably was hidden inside the X-30 project (the NASP/COPPER CANYON), and some may have been diverted from the A-12 as well.
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