Militarization of Space

[Mack27]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11911335

We, the Air Force, have a suite of military missions in space and this new vehicle could potentially help us do those missions better."

But some countries could be unsettled by speculation the craft might be capable of inspecting foreign military satellites.

According to amateur satellite watchers, who have been tracking the experimental vehicle since its launch, the craft changed its orbital path around six times.

Some of those skywatchers have also claimed that characteristics of the X-37B's orbit are shared with spy satellites that carry out imaging reconnaissance, as well as scientific remote sensing spacecraft.

Earlier this year, Ted Molczan, a key member in the amateur network, told BBC News the X-37B was "repeating its tracks". This pattern allows some satellites to pass over the same area of ground every few days and so re-visit a target of interest, he said.

The military has a history of being able to do things that NASA does for cheaper than NASA does as the Delta Clipper debacle shows. I can see how US Air Force Robots flying around in orbit and then landing on a regular basis could make people nervous. Its not hard to think of all sorts of mischief the the things could be up to.

 

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[Mack27]

 

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[biodieselman]

 

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