08-March-2006, 05:36 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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Two-Stage-to-Orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved
Credit to Sarongsong for first-post, within Conspiracy Theories, but I'm not sure it got enough visibilty there.
This is from the very very credible Aviation Week and Space Technology: Two-Stage-to-Orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved at Groom Lake?
Quote:
U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery. It could be a victim of shrinking federal budgets strained by war costs, or it may not have met performance or operational goals.
[...]
A large "mothership," closely resembling the U.S. Air Force's historic XB-70 supersonic bomber, carries the orbital component conformally under its fuselage, accelerating to supersonic speeds at high altitude before dropping the spaceplane. The orbiter's engines fire and boost the vehicle into space. If mission requirements dictate, the spaceplane can either reach low Earth orbit or remain suborbital.
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