Text Fwd: PYRAMIDS TO THE HEAVENS

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/pyramids-to-heavens.html
Monday, April 25, 2011
PYRAMIDS TO THE HEAVENS

The media is abuzz with the human interest story about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) who will be flying to Cape Canaveral for Friday's scheduled launch of the space shuttle Endeavour which will carry her husband, Mark Kelly, to the International Space Station (ISS).

Rep. Giffords has recovered well enough from the recent tragic shooting of her and others in Arizona to make the trip. This launch will be the second-to-last mission of the space shuttle program before it is shut down in favor of Obama's plan to privatize key portions of the space launch business.

Like so many other things in our society today, the plan to privatize space launches comes after years of taxpayer investment created the basic space technological infrastructure that will now, to a considerable extent, be turned over wealthy investors. Immediate plans call for private industry to boost "space tourism trips" where people, with too much money on their hands, take a joy ride up into the heavens. From there we'll see private space developers begin to contract with the government for launch services. Eventually private corporations will fly missions to, and make land claims on, the moon, asteroids, and other planetary bodies for the purpose of extracting precious resources from those places.

In the meantime massive government investment will continue to create space military technologies to "control and dominate space" so that when the day comes where profit can be made from mining the sky, the Space Command will be able to patrol a military highway, or create a "front gate," to determine which countries or corporations have the ability to travel to and from Earth to space.

This strategy was all clearly spelled out in the 1989 Congressional study called Military Space Forces: The Next 50 Years. Author, and congressional staffer John Collins, wrote:

Military space forces at the bottom of Earth's so-called gravity well are poorly positioned to accomplish offensive/defensive/deterrent missions, because great energy is needed to overcome gravity during launch. Forces at the top, on a space counterpart of "high ground," could initiate action and detect, identify, track, intercept, or otherwise respond more rapidly to attacks. [This would include bases on the moon, armed space stations, and other orbiting battle platforms.] Put simply, it takes less energy to drop objects down a well than to cast them out.... Armed forces might lie in wait at that location to hijack rival shipments on return.

Nuclear reactors thus remain the only known long-lived, compact source able to supply military space forces with electric power..... Larger versions could meet multi megawatt needs of space-based lasers.... Nuclear reactors must support major bases on the moon..... Safety factors, rather than technological feasibility, will remain the principal impediment to nuclear power in space, unless officials convince influential critics that risks are acceptably low.

This is all a very expensive proposition. Some years ago the industry publication, Space News, wrote an editorial admitting they had to come up with a "secure funding source" in order to pay for their industry's plans in space if the U.S. hoped to stay on top of the heap. In the editorial they notified readers that indeed they had identified such a funding source - the "entitlement programs" and were sending their lobbyists to Washington to secure them for their use.

Officially the entitlement programs are: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and what is left of the welfare program. It is these programs that today are under vicious attack by the corporate interests who wish to use those funds in part to build their pyramids to the heavens.

The spectacle of a recovering Rep. Giffords and Obama waving to her husband as he blasts off on the space shuttle will bring tears to many eyes and warm feelings in many hearts. The aerospace industry hopes that more support for "everything" space will also result.

Text Fwd: US Air Force, Boeing To Launch Unmanned Military Space Plane

* Text informed by StopNATO * on June 6, 2009

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/us-air-force-and-boeing-all-set-to-launch-unpiloted-military-space-plane_100201554.html
Asian News International, June 6, 2009
US Air Force and Boeing all set to launch unpiloted military space plane

Washington - The US Air Force and Boeing are all set to launch the X-37B - an unpiloted military space plane.

According to a report by Fox News, the winged craft, tucked inside the shroud of an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), will be boosted out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, orbit the Earth and then make an auto-pilot landing in California.

The X-37B OTV-1 (Orbital Test Vehicle 1) is currently on the launch manifest for January 2010, explained US Air Force Captain Elizabeth Aptekar, who works in media operations for the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.

“The vehicle is ready for the shipping process, which includes minor close-out activities,” said Aptekar. “The vehicle will ship at the conclusion of the pre-ship activities, which should be approximately 60 days before its launch date,” she added.

Years ago, the X-37B was originally slated to be deployed from the payload bay of a space shuttle.

But, following the tragic Columbia accident, the craft was transferred to a Delta rocket, and then later geared to be sent aloft via the Atlas V EELV.

While next year’s flight profile remains a bit hazy, reports have the X-37B under auto-pilot control zooming into Vandenberg Air Force Base for a landing, or perhaps at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

As a reusable space plane, the intent of the craft is to serve as a test bed for dozens of technologies in airframe, propulsion and operation, and other items in the hopes of making space transportation and operations significantly more affordable.

According to earlier press releases issued by Boeing, the X-37 orbital craft is capable of circling Earth for up to three weeks.

“Potential new commercial and military reusable space vehicle market applications for these technologies range from on-orbit satellite repair to the next-generation of totally reusable launch vehicles,” explained past Boeing-issued material.

The intent of the X-37B mission is to try out a wide variety of experiments and technologies, including a highly durable, high-temperature thermal protection system; storable, non-toxic liquid propellants; and important new aerodynamic features - all of which are applicable to future reusable space vehicles.

The vehicle is about 27.5 feet long with a roughly 15-foot wingspan and tips the scales at about 5 tons at liftoff.
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Text Fwd: Military communications satellite successfully launched

* Informed in StopNATO*
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123142879
Air Force Link
American Forces Press Service
April 4, 2009

Military communications satellite successfully launched

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. - An Air Force team successfully launched a new-generation military communication satellite from here April 3 at 8:31 p.m. (EDT) when an Atlas V rocket carried a Wideband Global Satellite Communication satellite into space.

These satellites are designed to provide high-capacity communications to U.S. military forces. It will augment and eventually replace the Defense Satellite Communication System. The satellite provides a giant leap in communications bandwidth and technology.

"We're helping to give the most versatile and sophisticated technology to our warfighters," said Brig. Gen. Edward L. Bolton Jr., 45th Space Wing commander. "Congratulations to the entire team for their hard work and dedication to the mission."

"We only have one chance to get it right," said Capt. Jeffrey Fisher, Wideband Global SATCOM-2 mission lead. "In this profession you have to be meticulous to detail and patient to ensure mission success."

The Atlas V family of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles has achieved 100 percent mission success in launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

This mission marked the 14th flight of an Atlas V rocket from here and the third launch this year from Cape Canaveral AFS.
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