Shuttle Is Dead : What Have We Got To Deal With Emergencies?

I am just watching Bruce Willis in Armageddon. And it got me thinking. What if out of the blue we spotted a killer asteroid or something of that ilk heading our way and we had say a month to deal with the problem. What would we do? Offically we have no shuttles left as they are in retirement. Has the military of the US Govt or even the UK or other space faring nation got one under wraps ie Shuttle 2.0 ?

Any thoughts on this?

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss


I'm sure they've always had a way to deal with those threats, but you gotta keep the people scared so the government can feel needed.

Originally posted by Wirral Bagpuss
I am just watching Bruce Willis in Armageddon. And it got me thinking. What if out of the blue we spotted a killer asteroid or something of that ilk heading our way and we had say a month to deal with the problem. What would we do? Offically we have no shuttles left as they are in retirement. Has the military of the US Govt or even the UK or other space faring nation got one under wraps ie Shuttle 2.0 ?

Any thoughts on this?

Well I can say that the Shuttle was/is a low orbit vehicle so it would do us no good anyways.
However there is a good chance of a higher orbit vehicle in existence and not common knowledge to us peons here on earth.
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss


It's called SpaceX

I've also heard the delta craft (I think those are the triangle shaped UFOs) have space capabilities.

The hollywood film was very over the top .. the shuttle wouldn't be capable of saving us .. it would never make it to the asteroid in time.. you have to think about how fast an asteroid is flying at us vs. how slow a shuttle can fly, not to mention the shuttle was never meant for that kind of travel, it's only meant for local near earth orbit missions..

If that movie were real, we'd be dead in that scenario .. our best bet would be to have all of our nuclear capable countries to fire at the thing and hope for the best.. and even then i don't think we'd stand much of a chance.

Maybe will smith will go to area 51 and get that spaceship and fly to it and destroy it...?

reply to post by LightAssassin


I live by Wright Patterson AFB Museum .. they've had a "SpaceX" exhibit up with concept designs since I was a kid, and I'm in my mid 30s now .. the museum is walking distance from me

Originally posted by Misterlondon
Maybe will smith will go to area 51 and get that spaceship and fly to it and destroy it...?

Hahahaha! Brilliant! Made me laugh! A star for you!

Look up NASA's NEEMO 15. It is directly related to the training and landing of craft/people on objects in space. NEEMO 15 is the mission that astronauts trained on underwater for this exact scenario in recent months.

NEEMO 15 Mission Objective

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss


the shuttle was never designed to be powerful enough to leave earth-orbit. The only (modern) lifting technology available are such rockets who are capable lifting satellites into a geo-synchronous orbit.
having the necessarity to bring people into a trajectory which would allow to leave earth orbit, would require to dig out wernher von braun with his Saturn/apollo firecracker from the 60's.
Not even the russians have a capable system at the moment.

However there are plans for interplanetary humn spaceflights and some new systems coming up which may allow a manned mission to an asteroid.

But what is left is the question for the SENSE .. because what we saw within the film 'armageddon' is just fiction, and blowing up a potential hazardous piece of rock in space is more or less impossible for its mass.

Doing something like this is often therorized, but renders to be useless, with current technology.
Sooo Nope .. asteroid on a collision course ? ... pack your bags and travel where it does not hit.

... not to mention how long it took to prepare a shuttle for launch, and then it could only launch if the weather was perfect, and that it could only be used for LEO. Not exactly what I would call the ideal tool for an emergency. Not sure SpaceX would be able to launch within hours too, should the SHTF.....

They wouldn't end the shuttle program unless they had some kind of backup.

Think about it. Even if they ended the use of the shuttle, wouldn't it make since to keep at least one on hand in case of "emergency". Of course they would. That is why I am led to believe that they have "other means" now but not ready to inform us as to what those "means" are.

Originally posted by LightAssassin
reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss

 

It's called SpaceX

I've also heard the delta craft (I think those are the triangle shaped UFOs) have space capabilities.

edit on 28-12-2011 by LightAssassin because: (no reason given)

Ahh Space X, Interesting website that, but these are all concept plans unless of course they are already built incognito! And yes those triangle shaped UFOs I am sure these are black ops air force planes, although not all the UFOs are and I do think ET is involved but that's an argument for the Ailens forum!

Originally posted by miniatus
reply to post by LightAssassin

 

I live by Wright Patterson AFB Museum .. they've had a "SpaceX" exhibit up with concept designs since I was a kid, and I'm in my mid 30s now .. the museum is walking distance from me

damn mate.. if thats a recent picture of you.. you look young for your age!

on topic, it is a real shame the shuttle went out of service, but seriously im sure they have craft or designs within black projects that would blow the shuttle out of the water..

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss

erm, SpaceX was only started by Elon Musk in 2002..... Still a start-up company, having some commercial success. Next year they should dock with the ISS, and then we will see where they go from there.

It would be nice if the worlds different space agencies would
come together and do things with a global effort.

Something like this

Senior managers representing 10 space agencies from around the world met in Kyoto, Japan to advance the Global Exploration Roadmap for coordinated space exploration.

www.space-travel.com

Originally posted by LeLeu
It would be nice if the worlds different space agencies would
come together and do things with a global effort.
www.space-travel.com

Something a one world government could possibly achieve? I believe that is the direction we are headed in, but i'm not sold on the extermination theories. Maybe this is the sort of thing the NWO agenda hopes to advance with a global united government.

And on topic, I believe that the new breed of "shuttle" had already been developed before the current model had been retired. I mean, a lot of the advanced technology is suppressed from the mainstream, or at least that is what I believe.

reply to post by ThePeopleWillRise


Black ops anyone?

Perhaps you are too young to know the term, "It's the economy, stupid." It harkins from the Clinton era.
I'll change it to soften the coming blow. The answer to why we would suddenly (after about four decades) not have a shuttle replacement is simple: "It's the triangles, my in-the-dark friend."

Of course, you have to believe in UFOs as real phenomena before you can believe in triangles. That is not difficult to do unless you believe most of what your government (in the US anyway) tells you and totall ignore tons of UFO reports..

The triangles are the result of our intelligence agencies and scientists watching--if nothing else--how genuine UFO motivate themselves and then coming up with our own system for reducing or elimination the physical mass of a vehicle. But tut, tut, those are just details you don't need at the time. I suppose you need some time to consider the general idea. The web is a great place to start. I don't care if you will give a fig about UFOs being real or not, but you will open yourself up to some interesting concepts and data. Good luck!

I could foresee, if given enough time, the major space powers of Earth working together to build a vehicle. Imagine the design resources of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, RosCosmos, NASA, ESA, CNSA, and JAXA with unlimited government funding- I certainly believe they could come up with an impressive tool for whatever mission profile we would encounter.

As others have pointed out, the space shuttle was a LEO vehicle, which was not designed to travel much further than 600 miles out.