Jim - 11/12/2006 2:54 PMQuoteedkyle99 - 11/12/2006 10:20 AMThis Minotaur might not make it off the pad this year now, according to this report. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061211/NEWS/61211002/-1/NEWS01I wonder why this TacSat problem wasn't vetted until the last minute? Surely this was an issue that was known by someone. - Ed KyleUntil spacecraft are no longer in the realm of rocket science, tactical ops is a pipedream. "Quick callup" is not compatable with the testing required of standard spacecraft.
edkyle99 - 11/12/2006 10:20 AMThis Minotaur might not make it off the pad this year now, according to this report. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061211/NEWS/61211002/-1/NEWS01I wonder why this TacSat problem wasn't vetted until the last minute? Surely this was an issue that was known by someone. - Ed Kyle
rocketman007 - 13/12/2006 6:41 PM yes, i agree too, the tacsat programs are a very good resource for real time data to the troops and certainly the concept of responsive space is a good one...t.
rocketman007 - 13/12/2006 6:53 PMJim.. that is certainly one view. I guess that is what UAVs are for huh. LEO birds get about 15 passes a day is all, so they have to be prepared to wait 90 minutes for data. and certainly it all depends on ground station locations. however, tacsat-2 does have the capability to image and then downlink that image all in the same 10-15 minute contact. therefore, it is possible to get semi real time data to the people who need it.
Jim - 13/12/2006 6:06 PMTactical reconsat is a farce, physically impossible
kevin-rf - 13/12/2006 7:39 PMQuoteJim - 13/12/2006 6:06 PMTactical reconsat is a farce, physically impossibleNot if you can make them cheap enough and launch enough of them... If one passed overhead every 15 minutes, you would need 48 birds...
yinzer - 14/12/2006 12:12 AMResponsively launched tactical reconsats do seem rather unlikely. However, I'll just point out that Iridium put something like 100 satellites in orbit for something like 25% of the money that was been spent on the FIA before the entire program was taken away from Boeing and given to Lockheed to start over on. It's not an inherently silly notion.