I’m reminded of JFK’s famous mutter as he left a briefing on US plans for nuclear war: “…and we call ourselves the human race.”
In our continuing effort to concentrate all wealth and power in the hands of a few, Congress has allocated $100 million for a vehicle that can be launched with 48 hours notice, travel 9,000 nautical miles from the continental US, deliver 12,000 pounds of “payload”, presumably not food, and return in two hours.
Sound unbelievable? The first generation is scheduled to go into operation at the end of next year.
Hypersonic speed is far greater than the speed of sound. The reusable vehicle being contemplated would “provide the country with significant capability to conduct responsive missions with quick turn-around sortie rates while providing aircraft-like operability and mission-recall capability,” according to DARPA.The vehicle would be launched into space on a rocket, fly on its own to a target, deliver its payload, and return to Earth. In the short term, a small launch rocket is being developed as part of Falcon. It eventually would be able to boost the hypersonic vehicle into space. But in the interim, it will be used to launch small satellites within 48 hours’ notice at a cost of less than $5 million a shot.
What could possibly be more useful?
Posted by Chuck Dupree at November 11, 2007 11:58 PM
What we can do and what we should do are so extremely different.
The atom and hydrogen bombs were fine on paper, but should have gone no further.
Why do people have a desire to destroy one another? Beats the shit out of me.
Posted by: SPIIDERWEB™ on November 12, 2007 5:27 AMRead the WaPo story again: it's the Rapid Identification Detection and Reporting System -- a not very exotic lash-up of sensors and computer networking -- that's scheduled to go into operation at the end of next year.
The hypersonic vehicle (which would do the atmospheric portion of its travels twice as fast as anything that's ever done sustained flight) is a lot farther away, and would cost many times the $100 million "seed money" reported here. Consider it *very* speculative: many, many such zoomy proposals (both military and civilian) have come to nothing over the last 50 years.
I agree with your underlying point that it's a bad idea, but there's no call for heavy breathing about it any time soon.
Posted by: Monte Davis on November 12, 2007 10:54 AM