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X-37B Secret Space Plane To Land Soon
Phoghat writes "The highly classified X-37B Space Plane is scheduled to land soon. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on April 22 atop an Atlas 5 rocket, and the Air Force is still being very secretive on all aspects of the flight. We do know that it's set to touch down at Vandenberg Air Force Base's 15,000-foot runway, originally built for the Space Shuttle program. In many ways, the craft resembles a Shuttle with stubby wings, landing gear and a powerful engine that allows the craft to alter its orbit (much to the dismay of many observers on the ground). Its success has apparently given new life to its predecessor, the X-34, which had been mothballed."
Highly classified spaceship carrying highly classified cargo returns to earth semi-unclassifiedly. Slow news day on /.
Another launch of the craft may take place as early as this March.
That orbiter? Or another orbiter of the same type?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
You mean it's been in the air for seven months?
#DeleteChrome
I wonder if there is some subtle psychological reasoning behind painting the NASA X-34 white and the military X-37B a shining Darth Vader helmet black....
At first I thought, "oh, to make it harder to see with a telescope," but then I RTFA and noticed that amateur astronomers have been tracking the thing in orbit, so I guess the paint job is just to make it look cool. Really, though, if I were in charge of a super secret space plane, I'd want it to look cool, too.
Yes I notice the first few comments are retarded jokes. How about a serious reality check instead?
These warmongering black budget toys that the common taxpayer funds and has no say-so in need to be completely eradicated from the face of the Earth. There's a secrative corporate cabal operating within the government that is abobe the federal government and the united states congress and president, that answers to absolutely no one and uses your tax dollars to fund whatever they wish; mostly warmongering toys that perpetuate our neverending wars. Yes, you pay for all of this without ever having the privlidge to know what they are doing with your money nor do you have any say so in how the money is spent. This is all done under the farce of of "national security". Fuck the military industrial complex and these corporate cabals. It's time for the American people to wake up and stop being pussified by the CIA propaganda that is terrorism. If you would like to know who the real "terrorists" are, please kindly watch the 2 minute video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XpXpl8uzFk&feature=player_embedded
Yes, the United States of America are the terrorists, lead by secret societies that go back far before babylon.
I wonder if there is some subtle psychological reasoning behind painting the NASA X-34 white and the military X-37B a shining Darth Vader helmet black....
At first I thought, "oh, to make it harder to see with a telescope," but then I RTFA and noticed that amateur astronomers have been tracking the thing in orbit, so I guess the paint job is just to make it look cool. Really, though, if I were in charge of a super secret space plane, I'd want it to look cool, too.
Black surfaces radiate more heat than other surfaces so it is better for a heat shield to be black.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Sorry but what do you mean black? Only the bottom looks black to me. It looks like almost the same colors as the shuttle. A lot of the colors are for thermal management and some because that is the color of the material. Almost none of it is "paint" except for some of the id stuff.
paint doesn't tend to do well at those temps.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Try reading before posting next time....
From your answer:
Emmisivity, or the ability of a black body to radiate or re-radiate in some cases, is highly dependent on many variables. Try re-asking the question.
Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/
Thank God you didn't forget to post the above message as an "Anonymous Coward"!
I shiver to think what your punishment would be from the "secrative" cabal that goes back far before Babylon.
Catalin Braescu
Ofaly.com
That somebody will explain how our superiority in the highly competitive black-ops space-plane carrying mystery cargo arena will eventually be converted into a solution for the fact that we can't seem to fight a ground war against a 14th century tribal rabble armed with 1950's eastern bloc shit without getting our stuff blown up all the time...
I was looking at the photos and was thinking about the wing size. "That's because they fly very fast because they re-enter the asmosphere really fast." But then I thought "why do they need to re-enter that fast? Surely they could use the atmosphere to slow themselves down, and enter at a much slower, cooler and more relaxed pace." Then I thought "well maybe the gravity has a fair amount of time to act on the craft before the atmosphere really begins, therefore giving plenty of opportunity for speed, well before a viable way to slow down"
Am I right? Does someone have a better explaination?
Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
These space planes were developed largely in response to fears that the NASA space shuttle program would be cancelled as a result of the Challenger incident in 1986. Further problems with Columbia forced the Air Force to pick up the pace and sealed the fate of the remaining space shuttle program.
My blog
I suspect it would still be cheaper to design the satellites for a shorter life span and keep launching them into different orbits.
Consider the advantage of maneuverability in a hostile (as in being shot at) environment, or in a situation where the geographical points of interest keep changing, or changing the time required to orbit so that someone on the ground can not predict an overflight very easily. The X-37 may carry more fuel, or have engines offering greater delta-v, than a satellite.
There never will be commercial space ships. Get over it.
As trolls go, I'm afraid I can only give you 2/10 for that one.
Black items may absorb more light, but they also can radiate heat more effectively. It's not mutually exclusive.
which part of you got offended the most? The 49 yo, the grandmother, the feminist or the c programmer? I'm thinkin 20 years of programming is going to make anyone a bit touchy.
I would suspect it's the "49 years old" ... no woman likes to admit they're about to hit the big 5-0, and many of us stay 39 years old well into our 50s just like most guys suddenly have a second childhood, complete with sports car and 20-something girlfriend, around that age. Neither sex is immune to denial :-)
It can't be the 20 years of c programming, because I'm in the same situation - you generally don't stay a coder that long unless you enjoy it.
And it certainly shouldn't be feminists, because feminists nowadays recognize that we don't all have to be pant-suit-wearing, bra-burning, man-hating asexual clones.
And it can't be the "grandmother" thing ... unless you're granny and you
re afraid that your relatives want to stick granny into one of these and fire you into orbit for 9 months without life support. We all probably have one relative who, in our darker moments, we like to imagine might "benefit" from such treatment, but we don't REALLY wish that on anyone.
No, I'd guess it's the age thing.
-- Barbie
One of the commenters below also claims that the X-37B:
you have a spy sat that can't be tracked easily
In truth, the X-37B is easy to track, as it is quite bright (naked eye object!).
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse
The X-37 proved they could have a shuttle successor without the cost, politics and without Orrin hatch telling them what they had to buy.
What do you mean by "can't easily be tracked"? In fact the X-37B is an easy object to track: it is quite bright, attaining easy naked eye brightness.
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse
Why don't you pull your head out of your ass? Is there some reason that you seem to walk around with a permanent fucking erection for yourself? Is your shit that fucking radioactive hot? Is your wife a fucking super model or something? Jesus. It's people like you that make me think that there is a purpose for torture, because I'd like to see you naked and blindfolded with a fucking battery charger clipped to your cock, in a dark room shackled to the fucking floor.
Wow. Just ... wow.
Hey everybody - Dick Cheney posts on slashdot!
Not needing to lug your oxidant along on the first stage is a HUGE win. The same $ would give you a 5x to 10x greater LTO capacity. At that cost, it's not a stunt - it's a true space tug, unlike the shuttle.
Tom:
Tell your woman to get her own damned Slashdot account.
That is all.
"This plane is so easy to fly that your grandmother could land it."
As a 49 yo grandmother, feminist and C programmer of 20 years, I find that offensive. They wouldn't have said "grandfather" instead of grandmother.
Of course not. The chance of having a grandmother that can't fly is far higher than of having a living grandfather that can't fly.
This is for two reasons: Fewer female pilots, and women living longer than men.
The way to fix this is to obtain a pilot's license and fight for increasing the lifespan of men. Then you can feel offended.
Not needing to lug your oxidant along on the first stage is a HUGE win. The same $ would give you a 5x to 10x greater LTO capacity.
Ignoring the small detail that, when the actual technical case studies (or even basically aborted, later, efforts) take a closer look, the gains turn out to be negligible at best to "dumb rocket" using comparably advanced tech.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Was painted in a Cloak of Invisibility color from Sherwin-Williams, which is why nobody saw it. Just ask for it at your local Home Depot; they'll have it (the paint, not the plane).
Probably.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I wonder what magnitudes it's visible at.
Last week I saw a light traversing the sky at ISS speeds, at -1 or -2 magnitude, except it was on a NE to SW vector... and I've only observed the ISS pass over on a west to east path.
I wonder if that was it.
Black items will ABSORB more light. When light (i.e. the energy contained in a photon) is absorbed by a molecule, there are a certain number of likely fates for this energy. Remember, 'what goes up, must come down'
Yes, remember that. Black items will absorb more light, and also radiate exactly that much more heat.
The perfect absorber is also the perfect transmitter. Anything else would be a violation of the first law of thermodynamics, and we can't go around breaking them laws, now can we?
Well, could your grandmother land it?
I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
That's the scary thing. It could have been literally anyone! The conspiracy runs so deep that there barely are any ordinary Americans left. We are all government agents now.
You are one of the tiny handful who are not yet part of the conspiracy. There can't be more than a few hundred of you left, and we are brainwashing you at a rate of about three a month. I wonder if you will manage to uncover the true secret of our ancient mysteries before we discover your identity?
funny but if you feel that I am incorrect why not post that I am wrong?
If I am correct what is your problem? Wow the fact that you care so much is actually kind of sad.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Yes she could.
Seeing as thee super secret plane carries no human passengers. pretty much any grandmother could push the button that is labeled, return home.
It is even red.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Yes, remember that. Black items will absorb more light, and also radiate exactly that much more heat.
Yeah but for a heat shield some heat comes from conduction and that is the same regardless of the albedo of the surface.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Actually my bet is that even Cheney has a better sense of proportion then this poster.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Not in this house, Lisa
------
beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
It turns out the fuel itself is only a small fraction of the total cost of a rocket launch. Turning to a more complex air breathing launch mechanism raises the overall cost, rather than lowering it, because of the technical difficulty involved.
Is it known that the x-37 has been changing its orbit by firing an engine? Back in the x-20 program there were thoughts about changing orbits by dipping slightly into the atmosphere and using wings, and I've always assumed that's what this new plane has been doing. If done right, you can change orbit with much less energy cost, as you only need to fire engines to lower the orbit initially and to circularize it afterward.
Tom:
Tell your woman to get her own damned Slashdot account.
That is all.
Please read my slashdot profile.
Or you could read this article from linuxinsider:
That is all;--p
-- Barbie
We don't need to pipe liquid hydrogen through the wing to cool it, so there goes all the dead weight of the plumbing associated with it, and the associated losses of carrying enough extra H2 that won't be used for thrust for cooling on re-entry.
It makes a big difference. The space shuttle wouldn't have been possible either without it.
-- Barbie
Everyone knows that BLACK is like the coolest color EVAR.
And space is like very cool. And black.
And that is why they paint the cool stuff like the supersecret space plane black - so it would be even more cool.
Like in space cool.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I also believe that the Abobe are to blame.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
So the ideas looked at the time involved circulating liquid hydrogen through the wing to keep it cool - sort of workable for the launch portion, despite the increased complexity and additional dead weight, since you can then burn it, but absolutely useless for the return trip, where you want to just dispose of the H2 after it's done its job cooling, instead of burning it for more thrust.
Now that we've solved the wing problem w/o needing to use liquid coolants, the wing structure is much simpler - as is the engine, since we don't have to have one that can use both liquid and vapor fuels.
What? Many approaches didn't envision the cooling systems that you mention. They still turn out to not give any returns, at best, when studied closer.
How most of the flight must happen outside the atmosphere (which dumb rocket knows, getting the hell out of it as quickly as possible - while spaceplane you envisioned lingers), the basics of rocket equation / how spaceplane wastes lots of payload fraction for airframe - probably means things won't change significantly for a long time, except for some niche uses (like in this case, military)
Remember how the Shuttle was advertised? How it delivers? What actually turns out to be cheapest per launch? (and we barely tried mass production - basically only with very first widely used launcher)
Look at those airplanes (/. & unicode links) from "our" times, as envisioned ~130 years ago (and probably influenced by rapid advances in (sub?)marine technology) - we can build them! (take a Harrier, get rid of the wings and canopy). But strangely, we have settled on something quite different in concept, also when it comes to the mode of operation. Spaceplanes are a dream from scifi of the '40s and '50s (a lot of Shuttle designers probably raised on it...), fueled by rapid advances in airplane technology. But they are a bit analogous to flying boats - and not many those around nowadays (except, again, for very niche uses)
One that hath name thou can not otter
The emissivity of a material (usually written or e) is the relative ability of its surface to emit energy by radiation. It is the ratio of energy radiated by a particular material to energy radiated by a black body at the same temperature. A true black body would have an = 1 while any real object would have
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissivity
http://michaelsmith.id.au
All the equations I've ever seen modelling the radiation of heat have the emissivitiy value identical for both the absorbtion and emission of heat.
I.E. Absorbtion and emission of heat are the exact same thing mathmatically, they're just arbitrary terms that describe what "direction" the heat is travelling.
Second, the Saturn V, with a truly huge throw weight (262,000 pounds to LEO), could launch full assemblies into orbit that would require many smaller missions to complete. The 500 tons of the space station could have been done in just 4 launches.
Some of the crazier upgrades planned could have done it in ONE launch (the twinned booster with SRBs, for example, 989,000 pounds to LEO) ...
Then while you're at it, leave the upper stage in orbit as raw material ... like skylab ...
It doesn't make sense to bring so much bulk home on every mission. They even had plans for single-person lifting bodies for individual re-entry, so you wouldn't need to bring everyone home at once. Cheap, flexible ... a lot better than a "space bus" with no hope of any economies of scale.
Ughhh. Wrong. White paints can rival some of te darkest paints for high emissivity. The critical issue is the alpha to epsilon ratio, or the ratio of absorption to emission. I do this for a living...the black is likely used to minimize reflection. In other words, to remain optically stealthy. That's it. Heck, regular white appliance epoxy comes close to .94 emissivity with only around .20 absorptivity. It's gleaming white, and comes close to fancy black coatings by Lockheed or others. The difference? I can see the mission from 300 miles away after launch with a small celestron telescope with no problem...just look for the large flash. If it were black, I doubt I'd ever find it downrange. Nothing fancy or mysterious about hwy they are doing this. The last thing they want is a mission making Iridium-like flashes all over the place. It's a significant part of the design for a lot of these satellites.
I'm still concerned about the black vs white heat emission issue. The photochem and energy transport phenomena don't change on the 'outbound' side for white vs black. Perhaps the kinetics will change - but that wasn't part of the discussion before. And yes, the heat transport phenomenon will definitely be tied to the material, surface structure, etc. - I agree on those points that others have raised. But, those points are in agreement with my original point, not in opposition - the variable of concern for out 'other' category is NOT color, but material! Color becomes an issue when determining the energy in, not the energy out.
People are getting caught up on the issue of a blackbody vs whitebody. They will both emit light from the 'blackbody' process based on temperature, not color. Remember that the terms 'blackbody' and 'whitebody' are tied to thepractical experimental side that led to the fundamental measurements.. All objects will have both blackbody (emittive) and whitebody (reflective/scattering) behavior in different proportions. Perhaps I was not careful enough in setting that up in my earlier post. In the end, the albedo differences some pointed out are tied to the reflective/scattering behavior generally 'drowns' out and blackbody components. So I are that a low albedo is preferable for a 'spy' satellite (and the sort), but that has to be balanced against the light absorption heating.
So, the discussion is a tangent from the original point - the whatever-paint-body will lose a small amount of thermal energy by emission of a photon. This process will likely be slower than the rate of absorbed photons in all cases I can imagine for an orbiting body (unless perhaps it's parked in the shadow of a planetary body - then we'd need numbers for Mie scattered light around the planet, etc. But now we're really running afield.) So:
energy out - independent of paint color
energy in - minimized for low absorptivities (i.e. white or reflective)
So, if you're minimizing solar heating for an orbiting body, black is a poor choice. When you begin balancing this against detectability, you have a more multivariate problem. But even there, I would aim for a high reflectivity approach that is directional, and directed away from potential observers. Or (in the ideal world where we do not live) for 100% efficiency solar panels (in the realistic world, perhaps a transformation of the light into something mostly other than heat can still thread the needle. Again, tangential.)
For my money, I'm going for a surface that's highly reflective but highly directional, and I'd pont is somewhere I never expected an observer. Better yet, I'd have an umbrella (black) set up in that direction in case an observer ever was there. And, while I'm wish listing, I'll put that high efficiency solar converter at this point, to further mask the 'beam' reflected and turn it into useful power, that doesn't heat the real satellite (so we want a tether with minimal heat transfer.)
(Merry Christmas all, the outline for a DARPA grant - if it hasn't already been done.)
Be careful of your thoughts; they could become words at any minute...
Being able to do high inclination missions is simply a function of thrust (for the given mass of payload) - if Shuttle was "compromised" by this, it means the concept was horrible elsewhere in the first place.
Saturn V approach probably wouldn't be very optimal in the long run - it was a bit of a one-trick pony. Large payloads are nice - but huge, rarely launched, disproportionally expensive (supporting infrastructure) launcher is not the way to go when we can do autonomous orbital rendezvous and can have simple, semi-mass produced, modular launchers (from the US ones - Falcon might be the best example in the future; but Angara will be probably the most striking one, from 1 to 7 identical core stages, from 2 to 40 tonnes to LEO). Even large ships are built in segments nowadays.
(I'm confused - do you don't want a spaceplane after all? There were plans individual reentry cones, too - lighter, at al)
One that hath name thou can not otter
So the broke-ass, deficit-obsessed USA cannot afford to keep the Space Shuttle or any other NASA launch programme in operation for science, but no problem funding an even better shuttle for the CIA/NSA. Because those spooks are doing such a great job protecting us from the Qaeda and copycats, protecting our allies from N Korean bombing, protecting the world from Iranian nuke programmes...
--
make install -not war
The idea is to get as much mass INTO space as possible. The more you leave up there, the less dead weight goes into supporting your return structure's functionality.
Think of what mass-producing the monster version of the Saturn V would have meant, that 989,000 pounds into LEO translates into 350,000 pounds into lunar orbit.. Even one launch a month would have quickly led to a permanent lunar colony.
Think of it - 4 launches into LEO would have given us a space station almost 4x the size of the current one - and another 8 would have given a second one twice the size of the current one in orbit around the moon. All within the first year, at a total launch cost of around $6 billion.
And since the design of the station components could be simpler (no need to make each unit comparatively small, and then bolt them together, when they could be lifted in larger sections) the cost of the stations would be less as well.
When you have that much lifting capacity, you don't have to make things so finely engineered that, for example, people standing on a floor in 1 g can buckle them.
Again, you want even more one-trick ponies / huge, singular monolithic structures.
I really thought we learned something about them vs. standardization and modularity... (which give also increased safety/predictability, flexibility and longevity - Russians want to detach Mir 2 parts of the ISS and use them in "Mir 3", which will be BTW basically a space shipyard to support deep exploration)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Do you have to give this person any ideas?
Frankly I would prefer them to remain ineffectual if it all the same to you. Frankly I don't really understand why they feel I am worth the effort.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Wow. The most egregiously asshole-ish asshole I've yet to come across. Huh.
High praise, assholish-wise. Do you specialize in this? Done research to hone your skills? It's paying off. I never want to come closer to a parsec between us. Great job. You're officially an imbecile.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
Most mens' mid life crises with the sports cars and such have nothing to do with denying the man's own age. It has to do with being acutely aware of the age of same-age women, hence the 20-something girlfriends. The other behavior is an attempt at attracting those.
Duh. ;)
As a [...] feminist [...] I find that offensive.
Wouldn't it be easier to list the things not offensive to feminists? There can't be that many bra-burning-like activities. Consider it a form of data compression.
I would guess the x-37 is black to make it harder to see in space., not because black is the colour of evil.
Try 12V via needle electrodes directly into the muscle :) BTDT, no thanks.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
One can be secretive on a hill. Or on a chair. Or under a bridge or even a bus. But I have never heard of someone being "... secretive on all aspects of the flight." Someone very fast and agile must have been very secretive. Also someone who could hold their breath for a very long time.
which part of you got offended the most? The 49 yo, the grandmother, the feminist or the c programmer?
I'm thinkin 20 years of programming is going to make anyone a bit touchy.
The person to whom you're responding basically cuts and pastes that same response to most every story. It's bogus - the story didn't include the supposed statement that "offended" them.
I'm beginning to suspect it's a 12-year-old boy that thinks repeatedly posting that same anonymous response is funny.
#DeleteChrome
It also has to with earning power. By the time a man hits 45 or so, he's probably achieved either the best income he will ever have, or at least a lot more than he had at age 20 or 25. Generally he has solidified his standing in his job and community and is successful (or not). Trends should be set to keep him heading in that direction for the rest of his work career.
So now that he has the cash, he wants to acquire the toys he always wanted. Usually this is sports cars, motorcycles, boats, collectibles and memorabilia, and arm candy. All things the man wanted when he was 20-25 but could not afford or obtain.
20-something women aren't looking so deeply at his 401(K) and stock portfolio. The 40-something woman is normally deeply concerned with property resale value and ROI and doing things that perhaps make financial sense but are extremely boring. The man wants to live on the edge. It's part of being male. The woman wants to blunt that edge and make sure nobody runs with the scissors. This increasing incompatibility is what starts to fractures marriages.
A young woman into having fun matches the desires of the middle-age man to have fun and reject the pile of responsibilities set upon him.
I'm in my 40's and making a good living. About age 38, all by itself, a Mazda Miata suddenly started seeming like a reasonable transportation solution. Previously I had ridiculed that kind of car purchased by a friend during his midlife. I did not go buy that car. My existing boring car is fine. But I have ramped up buying collectibles because I want them and my income supports it.
There is no wife telling me not to and I'd absolutely bristle at the idea of such a thing. So finding a wife my own age is simply impossible. I'm not going to surrender who I am for such a thing. Not now.
That said, I haven't had any luck with the younger arm candy. Oh well.
Sig for hire.
The wikipedia site says the cargo bay is 2.1 x 1.2 m, and carries 227 kg. That is pretty limited I should say.
I wonder if there is some subtle psychological reasoning behind painting the NASA X-34 white and the military X-37B a shining Darth Vader helmet black....
No psychological reason. The radar absorbing material is naturally black. Painting it white would be pointless.
Big jobs require big tools.
Yes, more completely unsustainable spending is the way, more! (and so far ignoring from where the payloads are supposed to come from)
Remind me again - how that moon effort is going along? How Buran/Energia program contributed to the prosperity of the Soviet Union?
One that hath name thou can not otter
About age 38, all by itself, a Mazda Miata suddenly started seeming like a reasonable transportation solution
You do know that the Miata just screams "chick car", just like the VW Cabriolet and New Beetle? Especially the convertible models.
-- Barbie
-- Barbie
Things are a bit more complex than you think. I'm a woman who is about to hit 40, and I have a rather different perspective:
I chose not to have kids because I wanted to live for me, not for them. As a result, I have had a pretty good career so far and have financial security and a nice disposable income, though I spend my money mostly on travel rather than on gadgets. Given a choice of companions, I can have:
- A 40-year-old guy who is now at a phase in his life where he's financially secure (as you say), but is also starting to, if not already, falling apart physically, losing his interest in sex while mine's still on the increase, and generally can't be footloose and fancy-free because he's worried about all his stuff. Oh, and who if he is single now is *probably* looking at marrying for kids since he's worried about his "legacy" (or is looking for arm candy, as you say)
OR
- A guy in his mid-to-late 20's who's not making a bundle of money (not that I care), but who's near his peak physically, is going to have a lot fewer obligations tying him down, is likely more looking for a fun time than anything particularly serious, etc. Sure, he is not going to have as much life experience (then again, another 15-20 years of rotting in an office isn't all that enriching), but he'll be a bit more fun for the kinds of things I'm looking for.
Mind you, I'm not saying all men in their 40's fit the first paragraph or those in their 20's fit the second, but I'm willing to be a bit picky, and it's worked out for me so far :D Good luck in your search!
What a strange derail!
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
Spoken like somebody who's never driven one hard.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
a new weapons-based space race that will leave the entirety of Earths' near orbit a useless no-go volume chocked full of hi-vee shrapnel created by the toys of US and Chinese boys who didn't give a fig about the consequences of their cyber-testosterone games.
Without the space program, we wouldn't have personal computers
The construction of ICBMs was adequate impetus for the microminiaturization of electronics.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
So, perhaps this launch's mission has been overtaken by the new satellite?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
In Footfall (by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle), the space elephants use kinetic energy weapons (tossing rocks from space) to prevent the humans from transporting anything along the roads or building anything that the elephants don't like.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
Dude, you bought a girl car? That's a Miata at the top of the page.
Car Talk - "The Ultimate Chick Cars of All Time"
-- Barbie
...all spoken by people who have never driven them hard.
Look at any weekend autocross. Look at any amateur race paddock. THEN tell me Miatas are girl cars.
Having said all that, my wife drives the SHIT out of my Miata, so I win either way you go.
Anybody who gets their gender identity hung up on what other people think about his car (and, yes, it's almost always men who worry about that), is a pansy.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
my wife drives the SHIT out of my Miata, so I win either way you go.
You have a funny definition of "win". Someone beating the crap out of your car hardly constitutes a win in most people's books. :-)
Personal computers of various kind were (and are) being built by many places without any notable space program. Impetus for extreme (mass-produced!) miniaturization, most notably in the form of microprocessors, also not strictly provided by space programs.
Economy goes both ways - also about using resources available to space activities in the most optimal way, via patterns most likely to give good results.
One that hath name thou can not otter