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Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

bbc.co.uk

31–40 of 181 posts

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#31
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the frequency and consistency of narrative with which it appears in the press, at this stage I'm convinced it's an empty UAV used entirely for some marketing purpose

It's spending months in space, I don't think it's for marketing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56s46e97Lo Based on what this talk indicates, the US Government is doing some questionable (...) things in terms of signals intelligence in space. We probably won't know what X37-B is doing in space for years but I imagine they will have at least tried to do some big brother exercises. The US/Western Intelligence communi…

Years in space, not months.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#33
post #24
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not convinced. I forgot the exact numbers but when I was trying to look at studies 5G alarmists cite* with an open mind some Energy Densities in question (being applied to animal subjects) were stronger than standing in front of one of those enormous ballistic missile tracking phased arrays (Which given the subject of this thread are also used for tracking satellites) * My absolute favourite one was "Sleeping nex…

> I'm not convinced. I forgot the exact numbers but when I was trying to look at studies 5G alarmists cite* with an open mind some Energy Densities in question (being applied to animal subjects) were stronger than standing in front of one of those enormous ballistic missile tracking phased arrays (Which given the subject of this thread are also used for tracking satellites) Thank you for implicitly putting me in the…

It's an extremely inefficient weapon, is my point. Sending energy from orbit to earth sufficiently strong to kill someone would need something like thousands of gigawatts as a point source I think

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#36
post #33
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not convinced. I forgot the exact numbers but when I was trying to look at studies 5G alarmists cite* with an open mind some Energy Densities in question (being applied to animal subjects) were stronger than standing in front of one of those enormous ballistic missile tracking phased arrays (Which given the subject of this thread are also used for tracking satellites) Thank you for implicitly putting me in the…

It's an extremely inefficient weapon, is my point. Sending energy from orbit to earth sufficiently strong to kill someone would need something like thousands of gigawatts as a point source I think

A sufficiently large antenna would reduce the power requirements significantly.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#37
post #10

> Mysterious US military aircraft launches > Mysterious US military aircraft Journalists need to stop using adjectives like "mysterious" when writing about the X-37B. While the aircraft's technology and missions are classified, there is nothing mysterious about the existence of the plane itself.

> Journalists need to stop using adjectives like "mysterious" when writing about the X-37B. Considering there isn't even a journalist attributed on the article, I'm not sure we should be presuming any were even involved in its publication.

BBC doesn't put bylines on articles that are merely reporting general information cobbled together from press releases and public activity.

https://www.bbc.com/news/help-41670342

That does leave a hole when articles include opinion content mixed in with general facts.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#38

Sat here in lockdown, I have just rewatched Matt Damon's The Martian and yes, we want to go up and out. I am so glad someone is still trying. I am also blown away by the American Federal budget - this is a classified military space program . How much does one of those cost ?!

Well, the budget of NASA is $22.6B/year for all projects combined. And as others have said, this is a small unmanned reusable vehicle, with a few flights under it's belt, after all of the reusable R&D was done for the Space Shuttle.

If I were to lick my finger and lift it into the wind, I'd estimate this flight cost between $0.5B and $1.5B, and most of that would be the gear that they are testing, given that the spacecraft itself is fully reusable.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#39
post #17
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sarcasm? Even uBeam does work, it's just not very efficient

I have no doubts beamed-power is possible, I just assume it's effectively an energy weapon and the real magic is at the receiving end harnessing the power without getting destroyed. But if you aim it somewhere other than the receiver, it's a weapon, no?

I think the expectation is that a deployed system will be used to keep drones airborne longer.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#40
post #26
post #22

One day after https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/12617475806665523... can’t be a coincidence right

Probably is a coincidence - these launches are planned and contracted far in advance, and Trump didn't seem to care last time one was launched during his administration.

Maybe this is a super duper space plane?
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