CATS?

Mike Swift wrote:

NASA working to promote the military, ha ha. They took the DC-X only
because it was forced upon them,

Not true. Dan Goldin used discretionary funding to pick up the
project. No one made him do it, and by keeping it alive a little longer,
it was probably the *best* move he ever made.

then got rid of it as fast as possible.

Remember, it was lost through a failure to re-connect a landing gear
pressurization line.

However, some of the tests done with it once it was in NASA's hands
were questionable. Espically the landing on a screened flame pit, when
it had already proven its ability to land just fine on hard desert. It
didn't need anything special, but let's *give* it the beginnings of
complex infrastructure, guys.

That idea actually *complicated* exhaust effects, and the ability of
the landing gear sensors to know when the ship had touched down, and
shut down the engines...

The only problem with NASA operating the DC-X was the tendency to
'NASA-fy' it.

And then there was the X-33 debacle, which was their idea of a
follow-on project, instead of simply going for a faster, higher DC-X....

NASA sees the military as a competitor, and nothing more.

Mike Swift

Well....it has problems with *anyone* that cuts into its percieved
turf.