The wealth of possibilities offered by aerospace vehicles that can ride their own shockwaves likely explains why the project has drawn support from the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), NASA, and the U.S. Navy.
“We could have in the future such things as hypersonic weapons that fly 600 nautical miles in 10 minutes,” said Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, during a June 1 teleconference.
Source: Space.com. Also read “Ottawa in Space? –Reversing the Burden of Proof Regarding Space Weapons” from the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) (PDF).
As space applications become central to modern interaction, more and more entities are becoming involved in space activities. Consequently, strategies to establish the coordinated, ethically justifiable and sustainable conduct of space activities have to be found. Such an endeavour requires addressing current questions regarding the use of space, dealing with fair rules in orbit and discussing the way towards achieving truly global engagement on space security issues.
From the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) via Secure World Foundation. Also see the ESPI reports on space policy and strategy. Order the report “The Fair and Responsible Use of Space” from Springer.
Also read “A new eye in the sky to keep an eye on the sky” in Space Review and ”Operationally Responsive Space Office” on Wikipedia. Also read the related article “The myth of missile defense as a deterrent” from The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and “Surveillance Suspected as Spacecraft’s Main Role” in the New York Times.
In 1960, Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline published an essay in Astronautics titled “Cyborgs in Space.” Comparing man in space to a fish out of water, they noted that even if you could bring everything you need on your space explorations, “the bubble all too easily bursts.”
However, if the human body were altered to adapt to the conditions of space, astronauts would be free to explore the universe without limitation.
“Solving the many technical problems involved in manned space flight by adapting man to his environment, rather than vice versa, will not only mark a significant step forward in man’s scientific progress, but may well provide a new and larger dimension for man’s spirit as well,” the authors write.
The Clynes & Kline paper coined the term “cyborg,” and NASA followed up on their suggestions, commissioning a study on the topic. “The Cyborg Study: Engineering Man for Space” was released in 1963, and it reviewed the possibility of organ replacement, as well as how drugs and hibernation could be used to make space travel less stressful. The report concluded that replacing the heart, lungs and kidneys – the organs most stressed by space travel – was not feasible with the technology available at the time.
Source: Astrobiology Magazine. Also see “Where are the Cyborgs in Cybernetics?” by Ronald Kline.
Once the water on the Moon or Mars or the asteroids becomes accessible to humanity, the ownership and control of it will determine which nations or peoples will truly be able to profit from space resources. The unratified Moon Treaty may have its fans, but once the value of the Moon’s water becomes evident, particularly the possibility of using it to produce liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for rocket fuel, it will become just another irrelevant scrap of paper. Peacefully or otherwise, the major spacefaring powers will come to an agreement giving “squatters rights” to whoever first occupies and claims a given bit of the icy Moon.
Source: The Space Review. Also see the Wikipedia entry on “hydraulic empire“.
