La USAF se dispone a lanzar el X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, una nave espacial no tripulada, que demostrará la capacidad de volar hacia el espacio, orbitar por varios meses el planeta, aterrizar en tierra y volver de nuevo al espacio.
El proyecto lleva dos décadas de desarrollo y muchos ya lo ven como el precursor de la militarización del espacio. La carga que portará es información clasificada, y ni siquiera es conocido el lugar y fecha de aterrizaje. Puede orbitar el plante durante mas de nueve meses.
.
__________________________________________
For the first time, the service will launch the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a brand new, unmanned spacecraft to demonstrate the military’s ability to fly into space, circle the globe for months on end, and return intact, only to fly again.
But whether the X-37 space plane is merely showing off nearly two decades of research and development or is actually a precursor to militarizing the final frontier, is far from clear since the vehicle’s payload is classified. An Air Force official won’t even say when it will return to California or where it will land. But it can “loiter” over the globe for more than nine months.
Arms control advocates say it is pretty clearly the beginning of a “weaponization of space” – precursor to a precision global strike capability that would allow the US to hover for months at a time over anywhere it chose with little anyone could do about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment