The fact that this is news only demonstrates how far we have fallen in space hardware development.
Boeing’s Delta 4 rocket is poised to return to flight this week for the first time in a year and a half, and there’s more riding on the launch than the weather satellite on top.
“Much of our workload is handled by the Delta fleet, and we’ve been down for a bit,” said Col. Ed Bolton, who took over the Air Force’s rocket-launching operations in December and is looking to get the over-budget and behind-schedule program back on track.
Job 1: the military needs a flightworthy Delta 4. One sure way to re-establish the rocket’s reliability is to successfully launch and deliver to orbit the GOES-N weather satellite this week.
Maybe if we thought more about commercial development the military wouldn’t have to worry about available launch capacity?
I doubt if there ever will be a viable commercial market for heavy lift launches. Aren’t most of the current commercial launches surplus or modified Soviet or American ICBM’s? I guess Aerospatiale’s Ariane rockets are designed for non military payloads. There are some areas that private enterprise are too leery to enter. Investments and risks too steep.
I was just reading that if the next Ariane is successful, that will pretty much seal it for them as the only viable non-military payload carrier for space.
Not so, joshua — the Sea Launch stuff uses Russian carrier stock — and they tend to be booked up a year or so in advance. Those critters have moved as far away from their military roots as has Ariane.
Pretty cool, too. I’ve watched a few DirecTV satellite launches live on TV — and most everything is webcast.
The Russian military and civilian operations continue to separate themselves — including the military dudes leaving Baikonur for a new facility all their own.
There was a programme on the BBC bemoaning the fact that Great Britain basically fell out of rocketry many years ago and now only made the satellites that sit on top. Of course, the spectacular failure of the Beagle 2 project to Mars was focussed on – we do love to kick ourselves when we’re down 😐
It’s about time the US really starting looking at a spaceplane to replace the ageing Shuttle – quite apart from the military applications think about the commercial possibilites on the side – the US to Australia in 30 minutes anyone??
The satellite industry is developing some deep pockets of it’s own, and I see commercial exploitation of space a better deal than military exploitation. Both will use the “Betterment Of Mankind” BS in thier PR blurbs but at least the commercial types prioritize profits above mass death.
Why does the Air Force need rockets? I thought they had a top secret shuttle ready and able to launch at all times to drop nuclear death on the rest of us from space. 🙂