X37B to rendezvous with ISS....

On 09/12/2010 02:46 PM, M wrote:
On Sep 12, 11:43 am, "Jorge R. wrote:
On 09/12/2010 12:55 PM, David Spain wrote:

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
On 09/11/2010 09:58 PM, David Spain wrote:
OK, gotcha, I made this up. :-D

But seriously, can anyone think of a legit scenario where this could
happen? Can the X37-B reach the ISS? Or are all its capabilities so
deeply classified no-one can say?
Wrong inclination, highly doubtful X-37B has enough plane change
capability.

I was presuming on a reflight mission.

Yes. Not the current one.

Then the limiting factor is whether X-37B has relnav sensors and
software. I don't believe the current one does. Don't know if they're
developing such capability for a followon.

Bottom line is, anything's possible if they put the development work
(read: money) in.

But isn't the reality more likely that this will be launched on very
very high inclination orbits from Vandenberg? Seems likely to be the
more useful orbits for its, ahem, intended purpose... And would these be
too highly inclined for the ISS or about right?

Too highly inclined.

Not only software, but it would need the radar and docking mechanisms
in order to do it all

Good point on docking mechanisms, but radar was implied in "relnav sensors".

Which begs the question, why bother doing it anyways.

It seems to me it would open a huge political can of worms to have a
military spacecraft dock with a civilian space station.

Good point. Whatever X-37B is, the USAF probably wouldn't want the other
ISS partners to get too good a look at it.

If X-37B does perform a rendezvous, the USAF has no shortage of targets
they can use.

Pat Flannery wrote:
On 9/13/2010 1:23 PM, Jorge R. Frank wrote:


Good point. Whatever X-37B is, the USAF probably wouldn't want the other
ISS partners to get too good a look at it.

Other than what might be lurking in its cargo bay, the exterior of it
has been well photographed from close range from multiple angles before
launch:

If the label on the wing is the problem, NASA can always buy a few...
The reality is, NASA probably has better (more cost effective) ways of getting
cargo up to the ISS. There is a small window where the X37B could be useful
for getting cargo down from the ISS, but the required docking adapter design
would likely make it unfeasible in time to be useful against say the Dragon
(right Jorge?).

So maybe not. OTOH the Air Force has a cool new toy. Maybe they'll be using it
to deploy and capture LEO recon sats when orbital delta-Vs for retasking would
otherwise place too high a fuel demand on the thrusters of the sats
themselves. Sort of a spy-sat on demand capability, i.e. to borrow a Jorge
acronym LON. You could envision the sat could remain in the cargo bay of the
X37 and go operational whilst still attached. After several weeks you could
then decide whether to deploy the sat in orbit for a longer stay or just
return it right then. Later, if you did deploy, you could send up another X37
to retrieve it for refurb.

Dave

On 09/14/2010 06:52 AM, David Spain wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote:
On 9/13/2010 1:23 PM, Jorge R. Frank wrote:


Good point. Whatever X-37B is, the USAF probably wouldn't want the other
ISS partners to get too good a look at it.

Other than what might be lurking in its cargo bay, the exterior of it
has been well photographed from close range from multiple angles
before launch:

If the label on the wing is the problem, NASA can always buy a few...

I'm assuming what's inside would be the problem.


The reality is, NASA probably has better (more cost effective) ways of
getting cargo up to the ISS. There is a small window where the X37B
could be useful for getting cargo down from the ISS, but the required
docking adapter design would likely make it unfeasible in time to be
useful against say the Dragon (right Jorge?).

The DoD has no intention of getting into the ISS cargo business anyway,
and the US government as a whole has no intention of competing against
commercial providers, so it's a fairly moot point.

So maybe not. OTOH the Air Force has a cool new toy. Maybe they'll be
using it
to deploy and capture LEO recon sats when orbital delta-Vs for retasking
would otherwise place too high a fuel demand on the thrusters of the
sats themselves. Sort of a spy-sat on demand capability, i.e. to borrow
a Jorge acronym LON.

The preferred DoD acronym is ORS (Operationally Responsive Space).

On 9/14/2010 3:58 AM, David Spain wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote:
On 9/14/2010 4:27 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
http://spacefellowship.com/wp-conten...7b-610x386.jpg

BTW, that stuff on the the sides and aft end sure looks like woven
carbon fiber mats to me.

Pat

The gray squares above the wings and maybe along the wing top surfaces?

That's the stuff, yes.
It's considerably darker in color than the fabric TPS on the Shuttle
orbiter.
One of the things they investigated during the NASP program was
lightweight woven TPS elements to avoid the fragility problem of the
Shuttle's silica tiles.
Although these look like some sort of woven carbon fiber to me, they
could also be woven metallic or ceramic material.

Pat

On 9/14/2010 8:19 PM, Jorge R. Frank wrote:

If the label on the wing is the problem, NASA can always buy a few...

I'm assuming what's inside would be the problem.

NASA was originally part of this program, but dropped out.
One of the civilian things a X=37B could do is test out microgravity
manufacturing. The long flight duration would give it plenty of time to
do things like grow crystals or mix up a lot of exotic metallic alloys
out of metals of wildly different densities and return the results to
Earth.

Pat