rule of Secret Space Plane Club ....

Why do I have a boner all the sudden?

So it's almost doubled their expected time for it to stay up. Gee, has anybody thought that "it's going great" really means we can't get the thing out of orbit?

I'm not saying it's Aliens but.......

Secret X37B Space Plane a 'Spectacular Success, until they have a blowout in damper three ... pitch is out, I can't hold altitude ... Flight Com, I can't hold it! She's breaking up, she's break ~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's that annoying rabbit again. Where did I put my space modulator?

But will it be ready in time to retrieve the monolith as it travels past on the...brb door.

The "secret" part is what it's doing, not that it's up there. I was coincidentally touring the Kennedy Space Center the day of the launch, so I watched it go up from a mile away from the launch pad. Got pics, too.

I was told that after the X37A went up and came down, the Air Force held a press conference. The Air Force rep got up and said, "It performed well." Members of the press present at the event followed up his statement with, "Yes, but what did it do?" The Air Force rep looked at them, confused, and said, "It... performed well."

Meanwhile, at NASA...

That it exists isn't a secret. What it's doing is the secret. My dad probably knows enough stuff that's still classified, on known inactive projects, to fill a book.

It was replacing the Bush earthquake/hurricane machine with Obamas

It's tricky to make something that's functionally launched via ICBM and is visible for two states away "secret".

AngryJailhouseFistfark: Why are the guys checking it out wearing the super-secured-tox-O-capsule suits? Did this thing fly through a cloud of radioactive bats on re-entry? Or perhaps it was out flying through the tail of the vampire comet?

They had to do that with Shuttle too, Outgasing from the titles, tile filers, epoxies that hold the tiles on and hydrazine fuel for the RCS

Reminds me of Farscape 1.

Okay, so we have an unmanned maneuverable spacecraft about the size and shape of a fighter jet. The Air Force is in charge. Functioning rail guns and lasers are in the news these days.

Is it time to begin sweeping all non-American (or allied) space assets aside yet? Or is this in response to the Goa'uld threat?

/Pew
//Pew
///Pew

How long does it have to be up before it stops being a plane and becomes a satellite?

plaidhat: The "secret" part is what it's doing, not that it's up there. I was coincidentally touring the Kennedy Space Center the day of the launch, so I watched it go up from a mile away from the launch pad. Got pics, too.

I was told that after the X37A went up and came down, the Air Force held a press conference. The Air Force rep got up and said, "It performed well." Members of the press present at the event followed up his statement with, "Yes, but what did it do?" The Air Force rep looked at them, confused, and said, "It... performed well."

The X-37A is a NASA version of the craft that tested landing, it hasn't actually been in space, the X-37B is the one that does all the secret stuff for the Air Force. Here is the X37A sitting in a Colorado Springs parking lot, something the Air Force probably won't do with the B for quite a while:

Why is they so interested in creating a world of technology without humans?

Why, Skynet? Why?

darthdrafter: Okay, so we have an unmanned maneuverable spacecraft about the size and shape of a fighter jet. The Air Force is in charge. Functioning rail guns and lasers are in the news these days.

Is it time to begin sweeping all non-American (or allied) space assets aside yet? Or is this in response to the Goa'uld threat?

/Pew
//Pew
///Pew

Close.
It might be in response to the Chinese anti-satellite weapons. If the US had a sudden need to deploy or redeploy spy satellites, establish space superiority, or deploy highly maneuverable space vehicles, then I imagine this platform just might fit that requirement.

darthdrafter: Okay, so we have an unmanned maneuverable spacecraft about the size and shape of a fighter jet. The Air Force is in charge. Functioning rail guns and lasers are in the news these days.

Is it time to begin sweeping all non-American (or allied) space assets aside yet? Or is this in response to the Goa'uld threat?

/Pew
//Pew
///Pew

That's so SG-1. Now we have the Wraith...oh never mind, Fark you Universe!

mikemil828: plaidhat: The "secret" part is what it's doing, not that it's up there. I was coincidentally touring the Kennedy Space Center the day of the launch, so I watched it go up from a mile away from the launch pad. Got pics, too.

I was told that after the X37A went up and came down, the Air Force held a press conference. The Air Force rep got up and said, "It performed well." Members of the press present at the event followed up his statement with, "Yes, but what did it do?" The Air Force rep looked at them, confused, and said, "It... performed well."

The X-37A is a NASA version of the craft that tested landing, it hasn't actually been in space, the X-37B is the one that does all the secret stuff for the Air Force. Here is the X37A sitting in a Colorado Springs parking lot, something the Air Force probably won't do with the B for quite a while:

[i49.tinypic.com image 639x382]

I stand corrected. I should have said, after the X37B's first flight.

plaidhat:
I was told that after the X37A went up and came down, the Air Force held a press conference. The Air Force rep got up and said, "It performed well." Members of the press present at the event followed up his statement with, "Yes, but what did it do?" The Air Force rep looked at them, confused, and said, "It... performed well."

That's what SHE said....

The only bottleneck in its mission effectiveness is the logistics of delivering mass quantities of popcorn to the targets on the ground.

I bet its super-secret job is espionage magnet. We find out who our enemies are by catching them trying to break into the office that holds the files on that bad boy.

DjangoStonereaver:

That's why NASA was VERY quick to tell potential trophy hunters to stay away from any pieces of DISCOVERY.
Doesn't the hypergolic fuel also dissolve flesh on contact?

You mean Columbia, right?

Discovery OV-103 is on display at the Smithsonian.

AnthraxRipple: That it exists isn't a secret. What it's doing is the secret. My dad probably knows enough stuff that's still classified, on known inactive projects, to fill a book.

Yeah, cause none of us would guess "spying on Iran and China" in a million, billion years.

It's obviously just putting in a whole bunch of new spy satellites for the military industrial complex to fap over. Your tax dollars at work.

I saw it a few nights ago when we had a break in the clouds; that little farker can turn fast! I happened to get amazingly lucky and caught it in an orbital maneuver of some kind, changing altitude or direction. It pulsed the engines a couple of times at irregular moments causing some impressive flares, and after it's trajectory curved more to the North, it slowly vanished. Up to that point I had thought it was just another random satellite, but I have *never* seen a satellite change direction, and there were no other orbital vehicles listed as tracking at that moment (I have a nice array of software for just such information, and it wasn't on the list.)

NNNNGGRAAAAGGH! Racist Frankenstein LOVE space!

except for the black parts

DjangoStonereaver: clovis69: AngryJailhouseFistfark: Why are the guys checking it out wearing the super-secured-tox-O-capsule suits? Did this thing fly through a cloud of radioactive bats on re-entry? Or perhaps it was out flying through the tail of the vampire comet?

They had to do that with Shuttle too, Outgasing from the titles, tile filers, epoxies that hold the tiles on and hydrazine fuel for the RCS

That's why NASA was VERY quick to tell potential trophy hunters to stay away from any pieces of DISCOVERY.
Doesn't the hypergolic fuel also dissolve flesh on contact?

Um, I know I'm being a butthole here, but Discovery is still intact. You must have meant Columbia, or Challenger.

FTFA: "Each X-37B space plane is about 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide. It has a payload bay about the size of a pickup truck bed and is outfitted with a deployable solar array power system."

Perfect for hauling your load of sheetrock from Home Depot into orbit...

groppet: It was replacing the Bush earthquake/hurricane machine with Obamas

How many Obamas is it going to take? I was going to do some math, but I'm guessing that it's going to take a lot more than I want to calculate. I'm willing to bet that it'll at least take enough Obamas that someone will notice all of the missing Obamas.

Having worked on several Top Secret orbital projects recently, some with very advanced capabilities, I can tell you that their primary purpose has always been... wait a moment there's someone at the door, BRB.

VERY obvious what this thing does and why it does it.

The X37-B is a tiny unmanned space shuttle that turns out to work pretty well. Scale it up and suddenly we have a new X37-C space shuttle, except it's a minivan instead of a freight truck, and can be piloted by the crew or automated. Runway landings and reusable. Seems like a pretty good alternative to going back to capsules that splash in the ocean.

Asgate: How long does it have to be up before it stops being a plane and becomes a satellite?

And since when do planes takeoff on a launch pad attached to the back off a rocket?? I think the definition of a plane would require to it takeoff from a runway under it's own power..

Al!: groppet: It was replacing the Bush earthquake/hurricane machine with Obamas

How many Obamas is it going to take? I was going to do some math, but I'm guessing that it's going to take a lot more than I want to calculate. I'm willing to bet that it'll at least take enough Obamas that someone will notice all of the missing Obamas.

Actually you'll never notice the missing ones since the cloning facility started up production of Obamas last year. There are more than enough to run every branch of government and send a few more into space now.

crispyone: Asgate: How long does it have to be up before it stops being a plane and becomes a satellite?

And since when do planes takeoff on a launch pad attached to the back off a rocket?? I think the definition of a plane would require to it takeoff from a runway under it's own power..

Not to be pedantic, but the "plane" part comes from the wings/airfoils, which form a...supporting planar surface, and provide lift - there is no mutual exclusiveness between "satellite" and "plane" - it is a satellite when it is orbiting, but it is always a "plane".

Oh boy! Another low orbiting spaceship.

I'm still waiting on a viable "X71" to roll out at Kennedy Space Center

Nem Wan: The X37-B is a tiny unmanned space shuttle that turns out to work pretty well. Scale it up and suddenly we have a new X37-C space shuttle, except it's a minivan instead of a freight truck, and can be piloted by the crew or automated. Runway landings and reusable. Seems like a pretty good alternative to going back to capsules that splash in the ocean.

[images.gizmag.com image 575x359]


Scaling up isn't easy though since it's not a linear process to get to orbit. They would basically need a space-shuttle-like launch system for it.

Capsules are good for human cargo because since they're smaller, they're easier to launch and land safely.

The space shuttle is/was an amazing piece of engineering, but it was just too complex and expensive to ever really be a viable system for much that couldn't be done in an otherwise simpler fashion.

It's more likely that the foreseeable future of large scale spacecraft involves multiple launches and assembly in orbit, with humans launching and descending in small craft.

crispyone: Asgate: How long does it have to be up before it stops being a plane and becomes a satellite?

And since when do planes takeoff on a launch pad attached to the back off a rocket?? I think the definition of a plane would require to it takeoff from a runway under it's own power..

It really almost does need its own classification, we should just call it a shuttle. If we brand this type of vehicle (reusable satellite/glider space-transport) as a Shuttle, it could become a lasting American influence in modern etymology.

/If I had an Unmanned Autonomous Shuttle, I would try and find a way to fill the cargo bay with little iPhone size satellites, designed to be brought close to other satellites (preferably nation-state spy and GPS satellites) and then release one mini-satellite that can attach itself to the body of said nation-state satellite.

//Mini satellites would have a small explosive charge and a comm link, and require minimal power

///If ever attacked by ANY space-faring nation-state (they are the most potentially dangerous, as once you can hit space...you can hit anywhere), the instant return strike would include demolition of ALL (known and tagged) enemy satellites, at the speed of comms.

//Probably unrealistic

/Probably a good thing I don't design space weapons

my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food: crispyone: Asgate: How long does it have to be up before it stops being a plane and becomes a satellite?

And since when do planes takeoff on a launch pad attached to the back off a rocket?? I think the definition of a plane would require to it takeoff from a runway under it's own power..

It really almost does need its own classification, we should just call it a shuttle. If we brand this type of vehicle (reusable satellite/glider space-transport) as a Shuttle, it could become a lasting American influence in modern etymology.

/If I had an Unmanned Autonomous Shuttle, I would try and find a way to fill the cargo bay with little iPhone size satellites, designed to be brought close to other satellites (preferably nation-state spy and GPS satellites) and then release one mini-satellite that can attach itself to the body of said nation-state satellite.

//Mini satellites would have a small explosive charge and a comm link, and require minimal power

///If ever attacked by ANY space-faring nation-state (they are the most potentially dangerous, as once you can hit space...you can hit anywhere), the instant return strike would include demolition of ALL (known and tagged) enemy satellites, at the speed of comms.

//Probably unrealistic

/Probably a good thing I don't design space weapons

Congradulations. You've just caused a Kessler Syndrome Event, and landlocked Humanity to earth for the foreseeable future.

The Kessler Syndrome is especially insidious because of the "domino effect" and "feedback runaway". Any impact between two objects of sizable mass spalls off shrapnel debris from the force of collision. Each piece of shrapnel now has the potential to cause further damage, creating even more space debris. With a large enough collision or explosion (such as one between a space station and a defunct satellite, or the result of hostile actions in space), the amount of cascading debris could be enough to render low Earth orbit essentially impassable.[4][5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome