X-37

[GregBurch]

Here's an article from AvLeak about the little-noted X-37 program and it's current state of progress:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/aw080408p2.xml&headline=Air%20Force%20Ready%20To%20Launch%20First%20Spaceplane%20Demonstrator%20Mission

As seriously cool as the X-37 as it is and as it's planned to be is, my question is this: What would it take to turn this into a manned vehicle? What is the best estimate of how many people it could carry as modified to serve that purpose -- 1? 2?

 

[Kyle]

Shear willpower.

 

[GregBurch]

Shear willpower.

Well, that and three bucks will buy you a latte at Starbucks ...

 

[Chupacabra]

^Ha funny! :speakcool:

Personally, with the size of the X-37b(assuming they don't scale up), you might be able to keep only one man for a short period of time as a stowaway.

What is the practical use of a military space plane of that size? :
-Launch satellites?
&Then why not skip the spaceplane(readayload) and use the rest of the rocket instead.
-Retrieve Satellites?
&Limited payload capacity (i.e. Most intelligence sats currently aren't that small/light)
-Deploy Ordinance?
&Inconvenient: ICBM's are better buck for the bang.
-Counterspace?
&Counterwhat? SpaceInvaders? Objects in Orbit are fragile. And as we can see by the recent Sea-to-Space Missles (both Chinese and American), they aren't too hard to find and hit.

So what use does it have? Most I can see is the use of rapid troop/vehicle deployment worldwide. And a sc/ramjet is much more suited to that purpose.
Seriously, besides the fact that it looks cool

 

[GregBurch]

So what use does it have?

If you dig hard, you'll see that there's a small but committed cadre of officers in USAF Space Command who want a "fast response" capability. Their ultimate goal is to sling something like an X-37 successor and a hypergolic and/or solid booster beneath something like a White Knight II successor to provide "2-hour launch" capability.

The idea is to be able to put eyes (or basically anything else small enough) over a target in 3 hours, launched from CONUS. But this idea is competing with the scramjet concepts, so we'll see who wins in the end.