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March 07, 2006
"Spaceplane" mothballed?
Reader Tom L. alerts us to an intriguing piece in Aviation Week:
facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological breakthrough vanish into "black world" history, known to only a few insiders. 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.
Tom writes:
I'm just an amatuer aviation buff, I have always had a suspicion that something was going on, or went on, because of the lack of discussion and testing of materials intended for the NASA spaceplane (since cancelled) that was to replace the Space Shuttle. Man rating such materials and powerplants is an exhaustive process, that such little time and discussion was given towards these areas, many others like myself suspected that the reason why was because they had already been proven via a "Black" program. Well, Aviation Week & Space Technology (aka "Aviation Leak") comes forth this week with a cover story on the subject. Say hello to "Blackstar" - I hope this thing is still operational... Can't wait to see the photos if it truly did (does?) exist.
More: Over at Newsweek, James Oberg finds some skeptics.
Posted by bill at March 7, 2006 01:01 PM
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