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Top secret spacecraft sets new record for orbit.


jetboy

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My argument is - a reusable vehicle with lifting body should be able to deorbit, land and quickly relaunched again with a new mission. If a spacecraft is designed for long orbital flight would it be easier and cheaper to make it as a conventional satellite?

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I don't think it is broken as the news is merely announcing it has broken the previous record of 469 days set on the second flight whic lasted from March 5th, 2011, until 05:48 June 16th, 2012, The first flight was only 225 days,

Regards,

Edited by sharkmouth
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Erm, have I misread this? Date 1st April?

You didn't misread but it has no bearing on the news. The third OTV was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL on December 11th of 2012:

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/109994/air-force-launches-3rd-x-37b-orbital-test-vehicle.aspx

This followed the 469 day orbit of the second launch I quoted above.

As of today, April 2nd, 2014, the OTV is now in orbit for 477 days.

Regards,

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I don't think it is broken as the news is merely announcing it has broken the previous record of 469 days set on the second flight whic lasted from March 5th, 2011, until 05:48 June 16th, 2012, The first flight was only 225 days,

Regards,

Thanks for the clarification Chap.

Not being a space buff I saw the date and assumed (!) it may have been a wind-up.

Glad someone's doing something with space technology.

Rick

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It's a bit sad that ARPA has a bigger space budget than NASA.

As long as the money is spent on research (for defense or otherwise) I don't find it sad at all.

Regards,

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It depends on what they are researching for a start.

And I would like even a fraction of the ARPA space budget spent on human space EXPLORATION.

There has been precious little of the latter since December 1972.

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I find it odd that a record is something that should be shouted from the roof tops, whereas this report itself comes from 'Staff Writers Moscow (Voice of Russia).

Is this a public 'We're clocking what you're up to with your super secret project' message from whatever replaced the KGB/GRU etc ?

Hope this comment is not classed as Political Mike, if it is, please delete.

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Where does "politics" stop and "real life" or "opinion" start.

These types of projects (such as government funded space programmes) are political by nature so cannot be discussed or debated without the underlying political decisions behind them being discussed.

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Getting into the usual unproductive scissors/knife political bickering isn't productive though. Once that starts, that's when we step in. Anyone that wants a political bun-fight can probably find an almost infinite number of places to do so, and that's what we'd recommend people do, rather than ruin the escapist nature of our hobby and this site.

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Blimey - I didn't know that this was an "escapist" site. Indeed, how can you discuss any historical events (which often drive our passion for kit building) without having some cognizance of the underlying political background.

Trying to isolate "politics" as an extraneous topic to the subject matter is like trying to discuss breathing without reference to oxygen.

Politics is what drives so much of current events and by inference, history.

Indeed, without "politics", there would have been no space programme of any sort.

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Blimey - I didn't know that this was an "escapist" site. Indeed, how can you discuss any historical events (which often drive our passion for kit building) without having some cognizance of the underlying political background.

Trying to isolate "politics" as an extraneous topic to the subject matter is like trying to discuss breathing without reference to oxygen.

Politics is what drives so much of current events and by inference, history.

Indeed, without "politics", there would have been no space programme of any sort.

What people are trying to say is this is a modelling forum, for modellers to discuss models and modelling. So, there is an interest there in that there is a vehicle, spacecraft or whatever doing something out there. This gets especially more interesting when a photo gets shown and thoughts go to 'where/how can I get a model of that?' etc.

The problem is when someone starts implying opinions about some cause and naming people, roles, companies and/or departments for the failure of this or that. That is where Mike is coming from when he, and we, refer to politic speak. None of us are stupid on here, we all went to school and we have a fair understanding of World History; There is no need for an interesting subject about space, or any other subject, to become drawn into debate about who did what, to whom, when, and what the consequences were/are.

As has already be stated, there are plenty of forums, and pubs/bars, where people who wish to can thrash out those issues to their heart's content, but this site is not one of them. So let's keep it interesting and enlightening for our members on this Modelling Forum.

t'other Mike :winkgrin:

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That's a real shame, in my opinion. I think the political background for any government run projects - such as NASA - is a vital part of understanding such projects and the decision making that goes on behind the scenes.

Discussing the politics and the people behind such projects to me is fascinating - and any such discussion does not need to descend into a political cat fight.

If we are only allowed discuss what happened and not why it happened, that is a serious restriction on having an intelligent chat on that topic - and one I would find awfully restrictive.

For me modelling is not just about pieces of plastic. To me its a 3D expression of history - and finding out the background history behind any of my modelling projects is as much part of the hobby as gluing plastic bits together.

If we are not going to be allowed to discuss these important ares, I see no point in discussing any of it and I will be posting far less here.

Edited by Eric Mc
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hi,eric...now that would be a shame?..but there is bucket loads of places,to give your insight into the whys and wherefores,if you want to send me a pm,i,ll gladly pass on a few places where you can type/skype to your hearts content,and there is always someone who will argue until the cows come home?.my own opinion,well as you can tell from my posts,i just try and pass on something ive seen,and if someone wants to go further on a posted subject,...man its so easy to do,......but as past experience has shown,you cannot have a discussion on here,as too much time passes between posts,imho

but i mean,you do seem to want a political slant on everything?,thats your bag,everyone to their own,....but its space man,,,whats happenning this week,.....theres no mention of two launches this week,dumping space rubbish...new satellites ..theres loads going on,lights on the moon,/mars,solar flares,lakes on moons,piggin ell,and new model by dragon,skylab version....and its only..WEDNESDAY,

chill eric...and keep typing

don

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I don't WANT a political slant on everything. But there is no doubt that if anybody wants to discuss the background to many, many aspects of our favourite modelling topics - then politics will raise its (perhaps ugly) head.

I would hate to think that our discussions here were restricted to counting the rivets and the quality of the plastic.

To me "politics" cannot be segregated away from real life.

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Interesting point in that article is Boeing suggesting they could build an X-37C capable of taking six Pax. I take it this would need a larger launch rocket, but possibly a feasible way of getting bods to and from the ISS.

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