Military considering using Starship for point-to-point transportaion
Capitalism in space: The U.S. military has begun a study in partnership with SpaceX on whether it will be possible to use Starship as a cargo ship for moving large shipments from point-to-point on the Earth.
Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, announced the agreement Oct. 7 at a National Defense Transportation Association virtual conference. “Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour,” Lyons said. The C-17 is a very large military cargo plane capable of transporting a 70-ton main battle tank.
Makes sense. This decision also suggests the military is impressed with SpaceX’s progress on Starship, and has also largely abandoned its earlier skepticism of the company.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: The U.S. military has begun a study in partnership with SpaceX on whether it will be possible to use Starship as a cargo ship for moving large shipments from point-to-point on the Earth.
Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, announced the agreement Oct. 7 at a National Defense Transportation Association virtual conference. “Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour,” Lyons said. The C-17 is a very large military cargo plane capable of transporting a 70-ton main battle tank.
Makes sense. This decision also suggests the military is impressed with SpaceX’s progress on Starship, and has also largely abandoned its earlier skepticism of the company.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
If there will ever be space marines, this is exactly what it will look like. If you can move assets to anywhere on earth in less than an hour, that can save lives.
When I read this entry, I got my battered copy of Frontiers of Space by Bono and Gatland (1969) down off the shelf and went to the color pictures on pages 80 & 81. These pages showed troops disembarking from the Boeing “Ithacus Intercontinental Troop Transport” which appeared to be a version of the “Pegasus Intercontinental Passenger Rocket”. The pictures even included potential sea launch of these space transports. These giant things used an enormous isoentropic expansion plug nozzle and LOX/LH2 fuel but………close enough!!!
I’m glad that my youthful fascinations may come true before I die. Hurry up Elon, my clocks ticking !!!!!
Definitely for rear areas only. You don’t want a jihadi to take down a Starship with MANPAD.
Medaris smiles.
Now, a modified Starship, like the pre-Buran MTVKVA concept might allow things to be rolled out with chutes and side landing.
Or ditch the cargo with chutes with Starship itself hitting the enemy.
-publiusr