Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 213 66.1%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 40 12.4%

  • We need to explore, but not at the current cost

    Votes: 69 21.4%
  • Total voters
    322
#1,880
#1,880
Hunerwadel said:
It's part of an ongoing study to understand why winter lasts six weeks longer when the groundhog sees his shadow.
Sorry, that really sounded better in my head. I'll be going now. 🥺
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Nice.

Really is it something mind blowing or more waste?
 
#1,881
#1,881
Hunerwadel said:
It's part of an ongoing study to understand why winter lasts six weeks longer when the groundhog sees his shadow.
Sorry, that really sounded better in my head. I'll be going now. 🥺
Click to expand...

Seriously you cannot throw a bone like that. What gives? They say it is to test new avionics and technologies, but not sure why they would leave it in space for so long for testing. I would think it is snooping on foreign satellites. It still has an X experimental/test designation but the thing has been in space for 10 years.
 
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#1,882
#1,882
Hunerwadel said:
It's mysterious and amazing piece of technology. I'm one of the few people outside of government who knows what this thing does.
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Well, you're a democrat so I'm sure it's already been perfected by the Chinese after we gave them the technology.
 
#1,885
#1,885
Abort test of Starliner from Monday. Accelerates to 650 mph in a few seconds. There were supposed to be three chutes deployed, but one of them just kind of fell of. Apparently two chutes is within the margins of safety, but I don't think NASA will see it that way.
Boeing Starliner is the direct competitor to the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
 
#1,888
#1,888
zeppelin128 said:
Abort test of Starliner from Monday. Accelerates to 650 mph in a few seconds. There were supposed to be three chutes deployed, but one of them just kind of fell of. Apparently two chutes is within the margins of safety, but I don't think NASA will see it that way.
Boeing Starliner is the direct competitor to the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
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Hopefully NASA drops Boeing. They have been wasting our space dollars for decades.
 
#1,892
#1,892
zeppelin128 said:
Atlantis (foreground) and Endeavor (background) ready for launch simultaneously. Atlantis was heading to Hubble for a final servicing mission. Endeavor was prepped in case a rescue mission was needed (this is post Columbia disaster.)
View attachment 237446
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Beautiful photo. The wife and went down to see this launch. We bought tickets and watched it from the Space Center. I'm glad I got to see it but unfortunately there was a thin layer of low altitude clouds when it launched and it mostly disappeared behind them shortly after launch from our perspective. We took a bus tour a few days before launch and the guide said it was the only time two shuttles were on a pad at the same time. We did get a good closeup look at Endeavor but stayed further away from Atlantis since they were very busy prepping it.

It was the only space launch I've ever seen. I hope to go see another one maybe next year since the wife retires in May.
 
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#1,894
#1,894
Orangeburst65 said:
@Hunerwadel

Is the X-37 a com node?

The Air Force Wants to Connect Stealth Fighters to Secret X-37 Space Plane
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That seems to be what the General was implying. I don't know why he would be talking about it unless our adversaries already know or he's delivering misinformation to give them something to think about. I just don't believe that's it's purpose. It doesn't make sense that it would be used to deliver payloads since we have other vehicles for that. It could be a multipurpose vehicle but the safe bet is that it is used 100% for intelligence gathering. The thing I wonder about is why it has to return to earth every now and then. I thought maybe to update electronics or components? But that doesn't make sense. When a spy sat becomes obsolete we just launch an updated version. It's a real mystery what's inside this thing and what it does. It's also a bit of a mystery why we only have one.
 
#1,895
#1,895
Hunerwadel said:
That seems to be what the General was implying. I don't know why he would be talking about it unless our adversaries already know or he's delivering misinformation to give them something to think about. I just don't believe that's it's purpose. It doesn't make sense that it would be used to deliver payloads since we have other vehicles for that. It could be a multipurpose vehicle but the safe bet is that it is used 100% for intelligence gathering. The thing I wonder about is why it has to return to earth every now and then. I thought maybe to update electronics or components? But that doesn't make sense. When a spy sat becomes obsolete we just launch an updated version. It's a real mystery what's inside this thing and what it does. It's also a bit of a mystery why we only have one.
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My off the wall thinking leads me to believe it is attacking foreign satellites by downloading viruses by radio wave or attaching explosives. The APG-81 radar can already electronically attack another fighter.

‘A God’s Eye View Of The Battlefield:’ Gen. Hostage On The F-35

"These are the capabilities that most excite the experts I’ve spoken with because they distinguish the F-35 from previous fighters, giving it what may be unprecedented abilities to confuse the enemy, attack him in new ways through electronics (think Stuxnet),"

Or maybe it is just a more maneuverable ISR platform.

Former SecAF Explains How Secret X-37 Space Plane Throws Off Enemies

"Wilson called the X-37B "fascinating" because it "can do an orbit that looks like an egg and, when it's close to the Earth, it's close enough to the atmosphere to turn where it is."

"Which means our adversaries don't know -- and that happens on the far side of the Earth from our adversaries -- where it's going to come up next. And we know that that drives them nuts. And I'm really glad about that," she added.
 
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#1,896
#1,896
Orangeburst65 said:
My off the wall thinking leads me to believe it is attacking foreign satellites by downloading viruses by radio wave or attaching explosives. The APG-81 radar can already electronically attack another fighter.

‘A God’s Eye View Of The Battlefield:’ Gen. Hostage On The F-35

"These are the capabilities that most excite the experts I’ve spoken with because they distinguish the F-35 from previous fighters, giving it what may be unprecedented abilities to confuse the enemy, attack him in new ways through electronics (think Stuxnet),"

Or maybe it is just a more maneuverable ISR platform.

Former SecAF Explains How Secret X-37 Space Plane Throws Off Enemies

"Wilson called the X-37B "fascinating" because it "can do an orbit that looks like an egg and, when it's close to the Earth, it's close enough to the atmosphere to turn where it is."

"Which means our adversaries don't know -- and that happens on the far side of the Earth from our adversaries -- where it's going to come up next. And we know that that drives them nuts. And I'm really glad about that," she added.
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Excellent posting. Those are very informative articles. One thing I've wondered about is if the X37 is maneuverable once in orbit. I know it takes a considerable amount of energy (therefore fuel) to change directions or altitude once in orbit. I had not considered it might take an elliptical orbit and sweep the atmosphere to change both direction and altitude. Very cool.
 
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#1,897
#1,897
CagleMtnVol said:
Barring something catastrophic I see no reason it couldn't as long as they keep updating key systems. They could also keep adding new modules likes those from Bigelow.
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I agree. If I recall correctly, they have been testing a Bigelow module at station for over a year now. I think there is a larger Bigelow module in the works too.
 
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