How about disaster emergency equipment and supplies. Delivered one hour after the area is stabilized.
If the U.S. pre-positions cargo in space, he said, it would free up shipments by air, land and sea. Everhart said the concept could lead to cargo and port stations or a “floating island” in space that could house Humvees, ammunition, tactical equipment, building materials and other wartime supplies.
How would the environment in space affect things stored there? It seems like a floating island of expensive equipment would make a great target too. With the capability of BFR/BFS, would you even need to pre-position in space rather than just launch on demand?
Space would be a rather benign environment except for the radiation. You are talking about one heck of a freeze-dried vacuum fresh environment. You also talking about some of the largest supply depots possible.
Still, I think this will have limited utility. And pre-positioning doesn’t make a lot of sense. Consider the times when this was needed in that past. What would you pre-position for Khe-Sanh? Berlin blockade?
And satellites in orbit do have limited coverage, which most people don’t understand. Would you pre-position geo-synchronously, thus making for a long drop, only cover part of a hemisphere, and no support for the poles? Can you wait for a polar orbit to line up with the ground?
I suggest the first ship be named USS Sulaco. “Supply them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”
When I was at DARPA, I made a rather detailed proposal regarding storing military supplies on orbit, and getting them down relatively on demand. The dismissal with which it was greeted, and the litany of “reasons” it would be too hard, were breathtaking.
” Consider the times when this was needed in that past. What would you pre-position for Khe-Sanh? Berlin blockade? ”
Good questions. I think that a rocket landing at Khe Sanh would be blown away.
And yeah you wouldn’t know what you needed until it was needed.
So it seems to me that pre-positioning in space is not practical.
I wonder if there’s a way to launch the supplies from Kansas to Khe Sanh and have the last mile be done without landing the rocket.
As someone tweeted, BFR or something like it would be a strategic airlifter. It’s too valuable to send to the front so use something cheap and mass-produceable for tactical transport. Call it Small Dumb Transport.
As for orbital prepositioning: I assume the target market is isolated units like a Special Forces A-Team. Ammo, water, food and medical supplies are almost always in short supply during combat. What’s needed is not a ship but a small capsule for a one-way trip. Preload most capsules but make it easy for the on-orbit crew to customize to requirements. Assuming the most common threat would be automatic weapons and MANPADS, use supersonic parachutes at high altitude then drop the last ~30,000 feet under gravitational acceleration and land with retrorockets.
Of course this is all blue sky thinking but it’s beer o’clock.
How about disaster emergency equipment and supplies. Delivered one hour after the area is stabilized.
If the U.S. pre-positions cargo in space, he said, it would free up shipments by air, land and sea. Everhart said the concept could lead to cargo and port stations or a “floating island” in space that could house Humvees, ammunition, tactical equipment, building materials and other wartime supplies.
How would the environment in space affect things stored there? It seems like a floating island of expensive equipment would make a great target too. With the capability of BFR/BFS, would you even need to pre-position in space rather than just launch on demand?
Space would be a rather benign environment except for the radiation. You are talking about one heck of a freeze-dried vacuum fresh environment. You also talking about some of the largest supply depots possible.
Still, I think this will have limited utility. And pre-positioning doesn’t make a lot of sense. Consider the times when this was needed in that past. What would you pre-position for Khe-Sanh? Berlin blockade?
And satellites in orbit do have limited coverage, which most people don’t understand. Would you pre-position geo-synchronously, thus making for a long drop, only cover part of a hemisphere, and no support for the poles? Can you wait for a polar orbit to line up with the ground?
I suggest the first ship be named USS Sulaco. “Supply them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”
When I was at DARPA, I made a rather detailed proposal regarding storing military supplies on orbit, and getting them down relatively on demand. The dismissal with which it was greeted, and the litany of “reasons” it would be too hard, were breathtaking.
” Consider the times when this was needed in that past. What would you pre-position for Khe-Sanh? Berlin blockade? ”
Good questions. I think that a rocket landing at Khe Sanh would be blown away.
And yeah you wouldn’t know what you needed until it was needed.
So it seems to me that pre-positioning in space is not practical.
I wonder if there’s a way to launch the supplies from Kansas to Khe Sanh and have the last mile be done without landing the rocket.
As someone tweeted, BFR or something like it would be a strategic airlifter. It’s too valuable to send to the front so use something cheap and mass-produceable for tactical transport. Call it Small Dumb Transport.
As for orbital prepositioning: I assume the target market is isolated units like a Special Forces A-Team. Ammo, water, food and medical supplies are almost always in short supply during combat. What’s needed is not a ship but a small capsule for a one-way trip. Preload most capsules but make it easy for the on-orbit crew to customize to requirements. Assuming the most common threat would be automatic weapons and MANPADS, use supersonic parachutes at high altitude then drop the last ~30,000 feet under gravitational acceleration and land with retrorockets.
Of course this is all blue sky thinking but it’s beer o’clock.