X-37B Launch

[Kuroji]

I certainly hope not! We've got enough junk floating around without having to worry about things in low orbit exploding and throwing parts everywhere. Some bits would stay in low orbit, sure, but others would go in higher orbits and extremely eccentric ones. A couple of space fighters going boom and you can say goodbye to humanity getting into space for a decade or five!

[Sea Skimmer]

I certainly hope not! We've got enough junk floating around without having to worry about things in low orbit exploding and throwing parts everywhere. Some bits would stay in low orbit, sure, but others would go in higher orbits and extremely eccentric ones. A couple of space fighters going boom and you can say goodbye to humanity getting into space for a decade or five!

Space weapons would solve the space debris problem actually, really easily. NASA calculated some time ago that a single high energy laser could burn up or force the reentry of the majority of space debris within a few years of operation. But such a laser has not been deployed because of concerns over sparking a space arms race. Now that space weapons are a reality and not going away (because any high end ABM missile or laser will also be an ASAT weapon by default) it’s a lot more politically acceptable to deploy a laser broom. We also have the solid state laser technology to back it up.

[Sarevok]

Space weapons would solve the space debris problem actually, really easily. NASA calculated some time ago that a single high energy laser could burn up or force the reentry of the majority of space debris within a few years of operation. But such a laser has not been deployed because of concerns over sparking a space arms race. Now that space weapons are a reality and not going away (because any high end ABM missile or laser will also be an ASAT weapon by default) it’s a lot more politically acceptable to deploy a laser broom. We also have the solid state laser technology to back it up.

Could a ground based laser sweep space debris all the way upto geo stationary orbit ? Or does it require such a powerful laser it would be more easier to use space based lasers closer to the target and free from atmospheric effects ?

[Sea Skimmer]

Could a ground based laser sweep space debris all the way upto geo stationary orbit ? Or does it require such a powerful laser it would be more easier to use space based lasers closer to the target and free from atmospheric effects ?

It’d be much easier to place the laser in space. Even with a very high powered laser it’s just damn hard to focus the optics, and even with no atmosphere our current lasers just could not be effective at a 22,000 mile ceiling. So we’d need to put something in a relatively high orbit to deal with debris that high, thus reducing the range. Also debris that high won’t reenter quickly, so we’d be more interested in totally vaporizing them. Objects that high also run into serious space tracking issues, many small pieces of debris will not show on optics and only a handful of radar systems in the world (the US has just two) are capable of tracking objects smaller then airliners at that kind of ceiling.

Most debris are within several thousand miles of the earths surface though, and this means you don’t have to vaporize them. Its easy enough to burn off some mass, which will slow down the object and cause it to quickly reenter the earths atmosphere.

[Sea Skimmer]

China’s “Shen long” Trans-Atmospheric Vehicle

Supposedly flew it's first flight.

It may have flown years ago in fact, no one who really knows is talking. That picture is from 2007 at least and may have actually been taken in 2005. The craft is too small for orbit without a booster, but it could easily serve as a suborbital hypersonic bomber platform. But it’s much more likely that it is purely a developmental craft to test heat shielding and guidance systems which may appear on an orbit capable space plane.

[Sea Skimmer]

I was looking around and it seems the X-34A space plane which had a mass of 18,000lb could be air launched with a Pegasus booster and L-1101 launch plane. So this means the X-37B at 11,000lb is very realistic to air launch, and not only is no special plane required, the USAF won’t even need that big an airliner.

The real trick is going to be making the turnaround time low enough to matter in a war. My bets are that coming 30 years after the shuttle design; and with no man rating equipment to worry about this can be made to happen.

[phongn]

I was looking around and it seems the X-34A space plane which had a mass of 18,000lb could be air launched with a Pegasus booster and L-1101 launch plane. So this means the X-37B at 11,000lb is very realistic to air launch, and not only is no special plane required, the USAF won’t even need that big an airliner.

X-34 wasn't orbital, though (Mach 8 maximum velocity) but Astronautix says a heavier orbit-capable version was intended for launch from a 747.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah I just remembered that, but X-34 was still intended to boost a several thousand pound third stage payload into orbit. Either way it’s clear that air launch is quite achievable with existing aircraft and a space vehicle which much lighter then X-34. it wont have to be like Spiral or System 49 when a completely dedicated launch plane design was required.