What is Digg?78 Comments
- 386master, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Personally I think such a program may indeed have existed as part of the US strategy for space based weapons. With countries like China entering the space game, US military doctrine stipulates that it has to gain exclusive power over near earth space in order to remain the number one superpower for the next couple of centuries. Transatmospheric spaceplane are the next logical step in the quest for air superiority.
If this project has indeed been scrapped and this is all not just disinformation or a hoax, it is likely that the Pentagon has a better system in development. Space is going to be the arena for the next arms race! - tgraham, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Did the guy even read the article? The whole reason for publication was because they *COULDN'T* confirm the existence of a military space shuttle.
- veritech, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11XB-70 is one of the weirdest/coolest planes around.
Here is a High res(2962 * 2079)! pic of one, with an f-4, f104, and two f-5's and
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1421/1068/1600/big_formation.jpg
Might post it in a sec
Edit: Nice folks at blogger cut down the size to XGA, still a nice photo though. - bgeipel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Here are some recent photos of the XB-70. I took them in 2004 at Wright Paterson AFB
http://www.geipelnet.com/Photo_Album/2004/2004-01-04/DCP_1649.htm
http://www.geipelnet.com/Photo_Album/2004/2004-01-04/DCP_1652.htm
http://www.geipelnet.com/Photo_Album/2004/2004-01-04/DCP_1656.htm - rudolphdude, on 10/12/2007, -11/+18And after all those billions spent and probably for no real gain we have guardsmen welding fridge doors to their twenty year old Humvees.
- twinklyJesus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9BTW, it is not President Bush that sets agendas for NASA or any agency of the US Government. It is Congress. That's right, all the "liberal" Dems and "Warhawk" Repubs out there seem to be able to publicly throw rocks at each other, but when the time comes to vote $$$ for military and social agendas, you can't tell one from the other. NASA reports to a Congressional comittee not the President. If anyone here has spent 5 minutes in Poly-Sci or History, then you know that Congress and the Executive Branch almost NEVER agree on anything. Only rarely in the past century (WWII, the Depression, etc.) did they ever almost universally agree.
Don't fall into a habit of foolishly scape-goating one individual or group for the current state of our policies. All are equally culpable here, truthfully, due to historical time in the seat, the Dems (liberals) more than the now vaunted "evil" conservatives.
Just the facts, Ma'am... - neokamidake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5No, the pilot of the F-104 did not survive, and neither did the pilot of the XB-70; the co-pilot did survive the crash, however.
Here is a link that perhaps provides the photos you were looking for:
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/XB-70_crash_site.htm - Rio517, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8This headline is sooo misleading. They state, in the first paragraph, they COULDN'T confirm!
- schwit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Costs is plausable, but so would a technological breakthrough that makes this vehicle unnecessary.
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I looked through the article and it seems like a well thought out and delivered one. Much different than the ones you normally see on crackpot conspiracy theory sites.
- veritech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's exactly what i was thinking when Bill Clinton retired the SR-71 for the first time, a few years ago. You don't retire something that works so well, without a very good replacement. I wonder how long the program with the XB-70 was running for? I look forward to hearing about these thing as the years go by. The levels of transparency concerning the latest front-line fighters (f-22 and F-32) and the fact that we saw their opponents in the "race" means big things are happening behind the scenes. Who needs apple, when you got the US government.
- flipmeat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6future headline: Small space entrepreneurs and Richard Branson pummel each other senseless in the government surplus auction that features this bad boy...
- domusvita, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"I am speaking to the individual who has stolen the property of the U.S.S.R."
- xptical, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5There will always be a need for a manned shuttle.
- rekka, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I think that was taken just before the red-tail F104 collided with the '70.
- TheRealPod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This would have to be a very tall vehicle. The landing gear for the XB70 were massive already.
http://airpower.callihan.cc/images/xyplanes/XB70/04USAFM-XB70.jpg
Intriging though. - geekchic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is certainly viable, and the evidence produced in the article, while not conclusive, is impressive based on previous "authoritive" reports I have read - ie not from the tin foil hat brigade. The technology is actually not "that" advanced in fact. Twin launch vehicles have existed for some time openly, and recently a Russian consortium declared plans to launch sats by putting them on a missle, flying it up on the underside of a MIG jet and then launching the rocket.
- veritech, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Just threw up a very small Gallery on my blog
http://rssv2.blogspot.com/2006/03/xb-70-gallery.html
You can digg it here
http://digg.com/technology/XB-70_Gallery
note: I repeat the photo's aren't mine, i found them about 2-3 years ago online, If you know who they belong too, i will happily give credit (some of them are property of nasa, that much i know). - hanslope, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6This seems to be conspiracy theory style freelance piece of guess work and hearsay, that slipped through the net. I don't know the reputation of Aviation Week, but I'm sure this is not their usual output and would be an embarrassment.
The idea's nice, but there's nothing of value in this story. - lauridsd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Oh great, now President Bartlett will have to fire Toby for leaking it....oh, wait...
- smithchr, on 10/12/2007, -15/+18It's not NASA setting this agenda, it's President Bush. Admittedly, getting people passionate about space is a truly wonderful thing, but when you push such an ambitious directive on what is primarily a research agency without additional funding for the task, you've essentially gutted its science and research abilities. NASA provides grants to universities for the next, great breakthroughs in engineering, for flight studies, for new aircraft designs, for missions to asteroids, for basic science space missions. All of these programs which we have all taken for granted for years are in danger under this moon and mars race. What would you rather have? A better understanding of science coupled with more efficient and safer air transport here on earth, or a couple of lunonauts who have nothing to do except try not to die from hard radiation in space?
- zodieman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3All of you need to read a book about the black budget being out of control. It's called "Black Check". Look it up on Amazon. Really good look into the corruption and overcharging and lack of oversight in black programs. You can certainly bet the military has some really neat secret crap flying around. They don't retire things like the Blackbird (SR71) without a replacement.
- dodger2020, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Black" refers to hidden or secret projects such as this, the F117 (which was operational over a decade before it was revealed), etc. It's nothing to do with race. I really hope you weren't serious about that.
- veritech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2On another digg post, a guy posted a link with some info about the crash.
http://www.labiker.org/xb70.html
You can see the actual picture here
http://www.labiker.org/xb70/contrails.jpg
Many more pics on the site, thanks never knew about the mid-air incident - alopindat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2um, whatever... I don't want a "better" understanding of anything. I want us to do something that we have no idea how to do, like mars. Our civilization has become stagnant in the last 30 years. Everything we have now is just the grandchild of the original space race. So, bring it on. I want my fusion reactor and flying car, bitch.
- Teratogen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A beautiful aircraft.
- thecapitalizt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sooooo.... Kevin, was this that thing you were working at when you were employed at Area 51?
- longofest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Thank you for your comment, er... flame
- cryptocom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2System is comprised of two vehicles, the larger 'mother ship' codenamed Black Horse, and the smaller XOV codenamed Black Colt. It was built after the Shuttle was already flying as an alternative means of space access for the military. Burt Rutan (SpaceShipOne) worked on the project for a while.
:) - gluon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I prefer "Military-American" to "Black Military". LOLERSKATES.
- dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm confused sometimes. If I knew the government was wasting money on space ships more often, I wouldn't be so upset at them. Oh well,
*bumper sticker* I digg for space stories. - Terry2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is a rebuttal to this by James Oberg on MSNBC this morning.
- millmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone who knows there aviation history would also know that Jim Floyd who worked for Av-Roe corporation and responsible for the Arrow also had this same design of a two stage booster plane based on a modified Arow concept before the Canadian government shut down the program in Feb/ 59. And where did Floyd and many of the engineers go when Av-Roe shut down? You got it NASA and Boeing and Lockheed Martin. And maybe just maybe the engines with history were a pair of daunted Iroquois that " were never proven to exist".
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 This plane also has a optical stealth ability after 30 sec of flight, I have seen this test flight in Clovis New Mexico off of CR 2 when I accidently stumbled upon a classifed test pilot area..
- longofest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1so we are weaponizing space now... awesome.
- rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1F'in A! I'm a huge fan of the XB-70, so it's great just to hear that the project did have some direct use.
- serra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh geeze, can we finally beat down Kanye West for saying that on tv, since everyone quotes it now? And yes, volcompimp, I know that you were joking- but still!
- mdweaver7485, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Whoops thats what I get for digging before I read the article thought it had to do with helicopters which 2 black ones just overflew my dorm room low enough they shook the furniture and woke me up.
- Crispin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I grew up near Wright Patt AFB and seeing the XB-70 from time to time. It's one of the most intriguing planes in the world.
- Sabot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3The next great step for man should be the complete shut down of NASA, and we should begin the real space race. For 20 Million we got a plane that can fly into space. I wounder what we could get for just 1 billion?
Manned space flight is the point of space flight. If you want to keep launching high tech toys into space, do it on your time. - docxxvi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1boron gel fuel... bet thats more than a £1 per litre - jeepers
- serra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Didn't I see this on the X-Files? :P
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Maybe you *are*....considering that "the defense of the country" (ie: military) is one of the few things the government must do as mandated by the Constitution.
- habu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just finished reading the set of articles in this issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology. Very very interesting read. Sounds like they have most of it figured out. Worth going to your local library to read the rest of the articles.
- quellish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That would be my old, old, old web page. :P The host keeps it up just for the traffic it generates.
Scott's article in AvLeak is a lot of speculation, and the mentions of the XB-70, aerospike, and Dynasoar are just filler. An airbreathing engine feeding an aerospike doesn't make sense to me at all. There are also a lot of data points he hasn't included, at least in the online version. I'd have to check notes, but in the late 1990s there was a crash in the NTS that was almost certainly a very fast unmanned aircraft, and one description had people thinking it was the 2nd stage of Brilliant Buzzard/"Blackstar".
Personally, I have never heard the name "Blackstar" associated with this program. "Darkstar" is a radio callsign used by Edwards and Groom Lake aircraft that are sight-sensitive (i.e. if someone saw them, it would compromise critical design information). "Blackstar" is one I haven't heard of before. - jpowell180, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0iKato said "If true, interesting, disturbing, and illegal."
Definately interesting; however, it is neither disturbing nor illegal - it's not against any law for the military to posess access to orbit nor to use it for spying, etc. - aliensporebomb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you want to read more about the development of this, see:
http://members.macconnect.com/users/q/quellish/dawn.spml
and click the folder marked 'brilliant buzzard'. - belac88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1nice big pictures!
- aliensporebomb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My understanding was black horse/colt was not yet built and was a
private enterprise aircraft, not a government asset.
See: http://www.risacher.org/bh/
And: http://www.rocketplane.com/home.asp
Dan: I've read your stuff for years but definetely wanted your
take on this - it does seem a little too convenient - parts for a
third XB70 stored in a warehouse for decades, fuel breakthrus,
NASP funds devoted to this, manned/unmanned versions.
You'd have to wonder what this has been published for to take
attention away from something else.
What next? Aurora comes out of the black "Oh, it's been
operational for 20 years, no problem." Yeah, right. - Jammerdelray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0really cool...I doubt it'll be shelved for long. did they expect it to be cheap to develop a military space plane?1?
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