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Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

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Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#31

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

themodelplumber wrote: post #29
Herodotus38 wrote: post #24

https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=1... Here is an impressive photograph that an amateur astronomer took in June/July of this year.

That is really impressive...though I don't quite understand why the illustration looks so different; even though there's likely a lot of bloom in the photo, the parts don't seem to match up with the illustration based on the general brightness values.

The illustration shows the payload bay doors open.

In the photo perhaps they are either closed, or open with something hanging out of the payload bay, or some other configuration, making the brightness the way it is???

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#32

Post by gvb »

Tuxer wrote: post #19
colechristensen wrote: post #16

Obvious missions for a long-mission mobile shuttle like this include * intercepting and deorbiting space junk * fixing friendly or sabotaging unfriendly operational satellites * future weapons platform for offense or defense (say intercepting ground-launched sat-killing missiles) * on-demand surveillance (with ordinary spy satellites you have to wait until your orbit is in the right spot, adversaries will know when y…

Space isn't like a highway where you can move from A to B at minimal expense. Switching orbits, both orbit heights but mainly orbit inclinations, comes at a very high delta-V expense and therefore propellant expense, which this craft simply doesn't have the volume to hold. This cannot shuttle between LEO stations and switch orbits to imitate multiple observation sats unless those sats and stations are very close in t…

The U.S. Air Force's former top civilian, Heather Wilson, said it dips into the atmosphere and uses its aerodynamic surfaces to change its orbit.

Ref: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/23/former-secaf-...

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#33

Post by mabbo »

avmich wrote: post #12
AstroJetson wrote: post #2

Cool a mini space shuttle that is still flying around for testing stuff. Any chance it has seats and can be used for rescues?

Wait for Dream Chaser, first unmanned orbital flight planned for 2020. That one looks more promising, at least it's bigger and originally planned to be used manned.

There's also SpaceX's Dragon 2 and Boeing's Starliner coming soon.

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#34

Post by scarecrowbob »

kanox wrote: post #22

> breaks record of orbital spaceflight It broke it's own record of "time-in-orbit" and as far as spaceflight records go this is one of the least relevant. Once a spacecraft gets to orbit it is very easy to stay there almost indefinitely. Hell, the ISS breaks the record for "continuous habitation in orbit" every day.

Man, if you wanna get points in Tony Hawk Pro Skater, you gotta land the trick.

Same thing... I don't think the ISS is gonna land that trick, as far as I know... I'd be stoked to find out I'm wrong about that, though.

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#35

Post by nine_k »

jonathankoren wrote: post #27
bdamm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also don’t think the attack would involve changing orbits. The attack would be inserting electronic backdoor etc.

Nah. Bolt cutters on an arm, or even just spray paint. You don’t need to be close to do an electronic attack. If you’re close, you might as well hit it with a hammer or snip the antenna and solar arrays off.

This kind of sudden malfunction, along with acceleration not due to firing of any engines, would be a signal for the self-destruction device, likely chemically powered (explosive) and mechanically actuated. It would be sure to shatter the interesting electronic parts, burning or detonating any remaining fuel for bonus points.

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#36

Post by jandrese »

clarkrinker wrote: post #15

Anyone with links to credible speculation on the x-37’s mission?

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/23/former-secaf-...

Long term heat management hardware for space electronics. Among other things no doubt.

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#37

Post by nine_k »

bdamm wrote: post #21
mc32 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think they make boobytrapped satellites that explode, but they may remotely activate a self-destruct process which renders abduction pointless. If they exploded it wouldn’t it create more problems than it solves in terms of more flying debris they have to track as well as friendlies in the same orbital path? (Like when Iridium 33 crashed into a defunct soviet satellite.)

I also don’t think the attack would involve changing orbits. The attack would be inserting electronic backdoor etc.

Backdoor? Hmm, I wonder how useful it would be when everything is encrypted to the brim.

It could report the orientation and thus e.g. the telescope direction. But this can be done remotely, too, with a large enough telescope, maybe on the same orbit.

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#38

Post by nradov »

gvb wrote: post #32
Tuxer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Space isn't like a highway where you can move from A to B at minimal expense. Switching orbits, both orbit heights but mainly orbit inclinations, comes at a very high delta-V expense and therefore propellant expense, which this craft simply doesn't have the volume to hold. This cannot shuttle between LEO stations and switch orbits to imitate multiple observation sats unless those sats and stations are very close in t…

The U.S. Air Force's former top civilian, Heather Wilson, said it dips into the atmosphere and uses its aerodynamic surfaces to change its orbit. Ref: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/23/former-secaf-...

There's no free lunch in orbit. If it dips into the atmosphere enough for control surfaces to bite then it has to boost back up again to avoid orbital decay. Either way it can't possibly carry enough fuel to do much of that.

Re: Experimental USAF space plane breaks record for orbital spaceflight

#40

Post by [deleted] »

gvb wrote: post #32
Tuxer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Space isn't like a highway where you can move from A to B at minimal expense. Switching orbits, both orbit heights but mainly orbit inclinations, comes at a very high delta-V expense and therefore propellant expense, which this craft simply doesn't have the volume to hold. This cannot shuttle between LEO stations and switch orbits to imitate multiple observation sats unless those sats and stations are very close in t…

The U.S. Air Force's former top civilian, Heather Wilson, said it dips into the atmosphere and uses its aerodynamic surfaces to change its orbit. Ref: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/23/former-secaf-...

[deleted]
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