
Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon - jaybol
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7106714.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093
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varaon
The "new weapon" is described as being part of the Prompt Global Strike System
- an effort to put non-nuclear warheads on ICBMs. A big reason why the PGS
program might never be approved is that nuclear and non-nuclear ICBM launches
appear the same to Russia, China, etc.

It's the ultimate cruise missile, but it's also easily mistaken for a nuclear
launch.

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InclinedPlane
Quite so. One would assume that a Prompt Global Strike launch would be
announced to the major nuclear powers (UK, France, Russia, China, etc.). Said
powers should be able to project the trajectory of the missile and determine
it was not headed for their territory (or their allies'), precluding the need
for a nuclear retaliatory strike. How this affects the potential utility of
the system is left as an exercise for the reader.

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ErrantX
The problem with that approach is that it requires open and working lines of
communication. It only has to fail once, say at the mid-level of Chinese
politics, and it could quickly go downhill!

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TomOfTTB
I’m not sure I’ve ever understood the outcry against weaponizing Space.

Space is going to get weaponized. That’s going to happen. Because our power
needs are going to start skyrocketing once robotics and other automations
become more and more viable. When that happens we’re going to need a way to
generate much more power and there’s really only one viable option: Space
based solar power (a technology we’re almost capable of now if we can just
figure out how to effectively transfer the power to earth wirelessly).

When that happens we’ll have most of our power grid in space and it will need
to be defended. Which brings us to weapons in space.

Beyond the inevitability factor I’m not sure the danger posed by space based
weapons (such as laser systems) is any more significant than future earth
bound weapons. Weapons like unmanned hypersonic aircraft will be able to
circle the globe in a little over 2 hours (and hence could hit any target
worldwide within minutes from the closest U.S. airbase). So if we have jets on
Earth that can travel too fast to be intercepted and hit any target within
minutes how much worse is a space based laser?

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Qz
If we had a space elevator, we could just power the elevator via solar power,
and use the elevator as a power line to transfer the additional solar energy
back to earth!

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TomOfTTB
The problem with that, and the reason current research is focusing on wireless
microwave transmission, is that you don't want a satellite of solar panels in
geostationary orbit. Because then it's wasting half the day in the dark.
Ideally you want a satellite to collect power 24 hours a day and then
transmits it down once you're in range.

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lutorm
The geostationary orbit is 36,000 km in radius, an order of magnitude larger
that the radius of the Earth. That, and the obliquity of the ecliptic, means
that the satellite is only shaded by the earth for a tiny fraction of the time
when the orbit crosses the ecliptic during the solstice, basically with about
the same frequency as a lunar eclipse. Shading is not a problem.

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gcb
so the article is about everyone wondering if it's a weapon, but they just
launched a weapon at the same time and it only get's the last paragraph?

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davidcuddeback
Not exactly. The launch from Vandenberg on April 22 was an HTV-2, which
appears to be a weapons test, but a non-orbital one. It was tested on a target
in the Marshal Islands. I don't believe the HTV-2 reaches space, and it
certainly isn't orbital. It's described as a "hypersonic glider."

Vandenberg AFB launches a lot of payloads for testing weapons, so launching
another non-orbital weapons test is nothing new. They have regular launches of
the Minuteman ICBM to test a missile-intercept system. If I recall correctly,
the Minuteman is the target and we launch an intercept missile out of Alaska
to pick off the Minuteman. So far, I believe they've all failed.

The rest of the article is about a vehicle that _does_ enter space and stays
there for an extended period of time, and which may contain weapons. That's
why it gets more attention.

Here's a news story on the launch from Vandenberg:
[http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/military/article_7...](http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/military/article_7ef51f34-4f6c-11df-a60c-001cc4c03286.html)

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giardini
Could the launch be preparation for a strike on Iran?

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jheriko
Yeah... so secret the Times found out in a few days?

Then again, it is the "lets hunt for terrorists by telling them exactly when
and where we are coming" US...

