posted 07-28-2001 06:59 PM
Earlier today I posted the following in The Astro Nuts egroup for discussion. I thought CS readers might want to discuss this too.In today's paper it mentioned that the US military is giving serious thought to pursuing a sub-orbital bomber. It's mission would be bombing from 60 miles up with precision weapons, at Mach 15, and be able to reach most targets within 30 minutes (we know it would actually take about 45-60 minutes to reach some targets). The reasoning is that in the opening moments of a war this new bomber would be able to strike deep within an enemy's borders, at no risk to itself, to clear the way for more conventional weapons.
When asked about this military use of space, the Pentagon replied that because it's targets were on Earth that it was not militarizing space. The military is looking into using the technology developed for the cancelled X-33 (at a cost of 1 billion dollars) to get this project underway.
I'll reserve my comments until after a few of you have expressed your's.
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Happy trails,
Wayne Edelman
(The Astro Nuts)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheAstronuts
"Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong, but the man who refuses to take sides must ALWAYS be wrong...let us stand up and be counted." Robert A. Heinlein
posted 07-28-2001 06:59 PM
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