The US Space Force

I'll believe it when I see it. 99% of the headlines like this we see turn out to be basically click-bait. "We modified Northrop Grumman's MEV to scoop up space trash. Since this trash would no longer be able to "potentially" hit one of our military satellites it's defending them. So it's a defensive weapon really. But in defending our military satellites it makes our offensive forces more effective so really it's an OFFensive weapon."

Judge-Judy-Eye-Roll.gif
 
TomS said:
No idea why they can't get pants that fit, though.
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Exactly what I thought. They should have looked at JJTrek or Disco, then let out the tailoring just a tad for those people who dislike constricting clothing.
Grey Havoc said:
Vibes of the old Union Army uniform as well, or is that my imagination working overtime?
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Wow I see it too. Cannot unsee!
 
TomS said:
And the dress uniform. Lifted from Battlestar Galactica, so at least they're using new source material this time...

No idea why they can't get pants that fit, though.
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Dear God, the science fiction nerds have taken over. Thank goodness I never got spranged and wore silver wings with feathers.
 
www.newsmax.com

Dems Seek to Abolish Trump-Created Space Force

Democrats are introducing a bill to abolish the Space Force established by former President Donald Trump as a new branch of the military to defend American national security in the expanding world that is increasingly using satellite technology for business, communications,...
www.newsmax.com www.newsmax.com
Democrats are introducing a bill to abolish the Space Force established by former President Donald Trump as a new branch of the military to defend American national security in the expanding world that is increasingly using satellite technology for business, communications, and defense.

As Congress moves to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that authorizes funding for the Pentagon, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., introduced the "No Militarization of Space Act," co-signed by Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Jesús García, D-Ill., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
 
bobbymike said:
www.newsmax.com

Dems Seek to Abolish Trump-Created Space Force

Democrats are introducing a bill to abolish the Space Force established by former President Donald Trump as a new branch of the military to defend American national security in the expanding world that is increasingly using satellite technology for business, communications,...
www.newsmax.com www.newsmax.com
Democrats are introducing a bill to abolish the Space Force established by former President Donald Trump as a new branch of the military to defend American national security in the expanding world that is increasingly using satellite technology for business, communications, and defense.

As Congress moves to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that authorizes funding for the Pentagon, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., introduced the "No Militarization of Space Act," co-signed by Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Jesús García, D-Ill., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
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Typical.
 
Rhinocrates said:
Dilandu said:
bobbymike said:
Now add Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore to build a gigaton nuke for asteroid deflection
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Gigaton bomb would require roughly 200 ton of payload capability.
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Fragmenting an asteroid would simply turn a rifle into a shotgun. Apart from very long-term methods like gravity tractors, IIRC thinking is now focussed on setting off a smaller nuke to one side of an object, vaporising its surface layers on that side to change its trajectory. With large or fast-moving objects that are already close, it could be done incrementally, using multiple charges placed in a 'roadway'.
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Why would a nuke fragment an asteroid? There is no explosion in space. Just heat and light and radiation. A properly place nuke on a asteroid will vaporize a hole in it and the outgasing would change the trajectory of the asteroid per newtonian mechanics. Nukes are much much more effective than lasers in causing outgasing to alter trajectory. Good luck focusing a laser on an asteroid millions of miles away and if its tumbling as we have seen asteroids do DO then good luck getting outgasing from it enough to matter using a laser. Oh darn, the earth rotated again... We'll have to re-aim our laser tomorrow night.
 
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rooster said:
Why would a nuke fragment an asteroid? There is no explosion in space. Just heat and light and radiation.
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Detonating on the surface or even (a la Deep Impact), beneath it is what most people think of. Many asteroids, like Bennu, are loose rock piles anyway.

I didn't think about controlled outgassing. Deploy a mirror near an object and focus the light continually on a point, assuming it's not rotating (unlikely) or on a pole perhaps?
 
A nuke flashes that whole side in an instant of thrust. The tumbling of and asteroid in all directions might null out gradual thrust anyway.

No shockwaves in a vacuum.
Maybe the best way to deal with a rubble pile…fuse it into one mass with enough stand-off blasts maybe?
 
publiusr said:
No shockwaves in a vacuum.
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Not exactly correct.

Firstly, nuclear explosion in vacuum produced a large cloud of fast-moving plasma. Which have enough energy to quite severly impact objects nearby. Directed atomics, like nuclear howitzer (erroneously called Casaba Howitzer) concentrated this plasma into narrow cone.

Secondly, nuclear explosion in vacuum produced a lot of X-rays. Which, hitting the target, heated its surface to vaporization or even ionization. Expanding cloud of gas/plasma produce thrust, i.e. impact shock.

So close detonation of powerful nuclear device could very well shatter asteroid to pieces, by the combination of asteroid's own material ablation shock and bomb's plasma cloud impact.
 
The Space Force awarded Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Long Beach-based Rocket Lab USA Inc. contracts for rocket testing and development as part of the Space Force System Command’s Space Enterprise Consortium, the agency announced Sept. 24.

SpaceX secured nearly $14.5 million, and Rocket Lab was granted nearly $24.4 million.
[...]
Rocket Lab will use the funding to develop the upper stage of its Neutron rocket, the company’s planned reusable launch vehicle designed to carry up to 8,000 kilograms into low-Earth orbit. The Neutron rocket will support national security and defense launches, ranging from scientific and experimental satellites to the “largest and most critical” national security payloads, the company said.
[...]
SpaceX will use the funding to test the capabilities of its Raptor engine, including rapid throttling and restart testing, liquid methane specification development and testing, and combustion stability analysis. The Raptor engine is used in SpaceX’s Starship system, a transportation system currently in development designed to carry crew and cargo into space.
[...]
Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, South Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin and Centennial, Colo.-based United Launch Alliance also secured contracts worth $24.3 million each.
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labusinessjournal.com

Rocket Lab, SpaceX Land $39 Million in Space Force Contracts

Los Angeles aerospace companies won big in the latest round of Space Force contracts. The Space Force awarded Hawthorne-based Space Exploration
labusinessjournal.com labusinessjournal.com
 
She’s trying to pour cold water on things…but having a lot of fuel can be had with many orbits depending on launch. Starfighters? No. Star cruisers? Maybe.

Now I wonder if breakthrough starshot tech with many heavy mirrors might laser pantograph a physical cursor bot with great agility in a confined area. Tack between standing waves with no light delay?
 
Starship with a laser weapon, or micro wave weapon in is big payload bay can produce a domination about a lot of orbit, she is saying bullshit in this article.
 

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