U.S. Air Force Pushes For Orbital Test Vehicle (Space.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 17 November 2006
11:43 am ET

There’s new military life in an old NASA project—the X-37 technology demonstrator. The U.S. Air Force announced today that it is developing an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), based on the design of a NASA X-37 craft.

It is to be designated as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.

The U.S. Air Force has decided to continue full-scale development and on-orbit testing of an unmanned long-duration, reusable space vehicle.

The new OTV effort dovetails off of industry and government investments by Air Force, NASA, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The OTV effort will be led by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and includes partnerships with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Boeing is the prime contractor for the OTV program—the same firm that was lead on the old NASA X-37 technology demonstrator.


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more: http://www.space.com/news/061117_x27b_otv.html

[lapfog_1]

1. Well, that sucks

Part of me is really, really happy... you see, I put in 10 years with NASA, and the early part was in support of the X-37 project... so I'm glad to see this get dusted off and maybe put into service...
OTOH, I'm really upset that it would turn into a military project for use as god knows what.

sucks.

[soothsayer]

4. I'm pretty sure NASA stuff almost always has military apps rolled

in. We don't just fund science for science's sake, you know. That would be too civilized.

[lapfog_1]

5. Actually, you'd be wrong about that.

Aeronautics research has a large crossover component. So my specialty, computational fluid dynamics, does have both research, commercial, and military application. Rockets, being a lot easier, has some, but the military has their own rocket program (I'm sure they wouldn't trust a bunch of long hairs over at NASA with vital defense secrets... for the most part). The military only had a passing interest in manned space missions, which is not to say that by now they couldn't have developed an interest (it's the PNAC doctrine). My other project was MTPE, which, other than some intelligence estimates the military planning, they didn't have much interest.

Caveat, I didn't have an agency wide scope so many things might have been going on that I don't know about.

I never worked there in the Bush era, only with Bush I, then Clinton/Gore. And we USED to fund science for the sake of science.

[whistle]

2. It looks like another space shuttle

[Vogon_Glory]

3. Mixed Feelings

I've got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I disapprove of the militarization of Earth's orbital space.

On the other hand, I've spent the last decade in increasing despondency about the US' manned space program and NASA's apparent incompetence and the fiscal starvation imposed on space flight by right-wing Republicans.

I am so discouraged about the way NASA seems to handle space flight these days I can't help but wonder if the Air Force would do a better job of developing a reusable manned orbital vehicle.

Maybe if the Air Force succeeded, there could be a civilianized version to be used by (shudder) NASA or some private operator.

[daleo]

6. It sounds destabilizing

I think the Russians and Chinese would be concerned about the danger that kind of space vehicle could pose to their nuclear deterrent. Other than that, it will probably just end up being one more super expensive way to bomb third world villages.