Slashdot Mirror
Space Updates From Three Countries (indiatimes.com)
The Indian Space Research Organisation continues developing a reusable launch vehicle, which could cut the costs of satellite launches by 90%. William Robinson quotes the Business Times: India will use a mini-rocket with a booster to fly a winged reusable launch vehicle into lower earth orbit on May 23... If everything goes well, it will reach about 70 kilometers from earth, and will plunge into the Bay of Bengal...to demonstrate hypersonic and aero-thermodynamics of the winged re-entry vehicle with autonomous mission management
Meanwhile, Thelasko shares this reminder from BlastingNews that the U.S. Air Force's mysterious X-37B celebrated the one-year anniversary of its launch: Today, the maneuverable craft operates in a 220-mile orbit, a higher altitude it briefly held last fall and roughly the same perch occupied twice by the previous X-37B mission, according to satellite-tracking hobbyist Ted Molczan. This X-37B carries at least two payloads, revealed by the military before the ship took off â" an experimental electric propulsion thruster to be tested in orbit and a pallet to expose sample materials to the space environment.
And MarkWhittington writes that "The latest Chinese space station, the Tiangong 2, is slated to be launched later in 2016 and will be visited by Chinese astronauts in a Shenzhou spacecraft. But, according to Spaceflight Insider, the Chinese are already looking ahead to their permanent low Earth orbit space facility, the Tiangong 3, slated to begin construction in 2018."
Meanwhile, Thelasko shares this reminder from BlastingNews that the U.S. Air Force's mysterious X-37B celebrated the one-year anniversary of its launch: Today, the maneuverable craft operates in a 220-mile orbit, a higher altitude it briefly held last fall and roughly the same perch occupied twice by the previous X-37B mission, according to satellite-tracking hobbyist Ted Molczan. This X-37B carries at least two payloads, revealed by the military before the ship took off â" an experimental electric propulsion thruster to be tested in orbit and a pallet to expose sample materials to the space environment.
And MarkWhittington writes that "The latest Chinese space station, the Tiangong 2, is slated to be launched later in 2016 and will be visited by Chinese astronauts in a Shenzhou spacecraft. But, according to Spaceflight Insider, the Chinese are already looking ahead to their permanent low Earth orbit space facility, the Tiangong 3, slated to begin construction in 2018."
More like ummm, maybe.
It all comes down to marginal utility in the long term, which of course is uncertain because it hinges on predictions of the future. Things would be easier if you could just spend all your money on your most pressing problem, solve that, and move on to the next most pressing problem. You would take money,say, from education and put it into hunger, because hunger is lower on Maslow's hierarchy of needs than self-actualization. After you'd licked hunger you'd go on to the next thing and eventually get around to education.
Clearly a space program makes no sense for a country like Bengladesh with a GDP of 150 billion. India has a GDP approaching two trillion dollars. And while it has a lot of poor people, there are more middle class Indians than the middle class Americans. Those people work in industries like defense, technology and aerospace, that generate revenue.
Does this mean any space project makes sense for India, given its poverty problems? Of course not. But the development of hypersonic aircraft/spacecraft is clearly applied research. That not only helps Indian companies, it helps with the brain drain project by giving the most capable engineers all the more reason to work at home rather than going overseas.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.