NSS Capitol Capsule

Vol. 5 No. 4

HILL HEARS SPACEPLANE REVIEW

In the final weeks of the Congressional session, the House Subcommittee on Space & Aeronautics conducted a hearing, at the urging of chairman, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), on "Space Planes and X-Vehicles"

The U.S. Air Force recently declined to fund the X-33 and views further support of the X-37, a demonstrator Space Maneuverable Vehicle (SMV), of limited value.  The X-37, built by Boeing, is a prototype reusable vehicle that can maneuver in space then reenter the atmosphere and land.

The Air Force announced in last month it would not fund the X-37 beyond September 2002.  According to Defense Daily, the Air Force is expected to complete a new mission need statement (MNS) in November on the development of a space plane. 

Rohrabacher said a SMV would allow companies to retrieve and service satellites.  It also could be used for various military applications, including enhanced space surveillance, satellite repositioning and power projection.

Only Rohrabacher and Ranking Member Bart Gorton (D-TN) attended the one hour, fifteen-minute hearing.  Gorton wanted to know what DOD programs should be cut if funding for the X-37 was considered a higher priority. 

Following are brief overviews of testimony presented to the Subcommittee:

Steven Lambakis, Senior Analyst, National Institute for Public Policy

The best technology to achieve "a rapid response capability to orbit" is unclear, according to Steve Lambakis. "We are not far enough along today to know exactly the right technology course, or the right approach to ensuring reliable, rapid, affordable launch for this country, especially over the next decade or two."

Thus, Lambakis explained, "we need to press ahead on several fronts, to consider all the possibilities in a broad development effort, and do what we can do to achieve the capability we are after."

"The maneuver capabilities under investigation as part of the X-37 project represent important steps in the development of a space maneuver capability," he said.

Lambakis criticized current U.S. policy, calling is "unsettled and reflect[ing] differing visions concerning space and security."  He said "Our policy makers need to get their act together when it comes to determining how this nation should proceed in space."

Peter Huessy, President of PRH & Company, a Defense Consulting Firm

About a military space plane, Peter Huessy said it was just "one element, although a key one, to provide the U.S. with the capability to quickly attack key, time urgent targets, in whatever rogue states they may appear."

Huessy showed a videotape of a potential weapon delivered from space.  A projectile launched by a rocket was guided to a target.  Traveling at some 4,000 feet per second, it penetrated 30 feet into solid granite.  In another test, a projectile, moving at 7,000 feet per second, smashed though 70 feet of granite.

Huessy said various systems, which could include a military space plane, hypersonic cruise vehicle, space operations vehicle, or others, are needed to combat "heavily defended targets, deep-in-country targets, hard and deeply buried facilities, WMD targets (weapons of mass destruction), and time-sensitive targets."

Mitchell Burnside Clapp, CEO of Pioneer Rocket Company

"The X-37 is a program that stands a decent chance of providing a significant benefit to future space systems," according to Mitchell Clapp.  In addition to providing a "test bed for advanced technologies," the vehicle "can be used to develop operational experience that unnecessarily restricts the development of capabilities in this area."

"The critical need we face," he said, "is a lack of experience in operating reusable systems that travel in space, to space, and through space."

"The idea of a real world system like the X-37 isn"t that it gives you the opportunity to test," he said, "but that it gives you the opportunity to debug.  And that"s why it"s a program worth supporting."

Henry Cooper, Chairman of High Frontier and Former Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative

Henry Cooper harshly criticized the normal development/acquisition process in the Department of Defense (DOD).  The DOD "is currently an organization of fiefdoms with competing bureaucratic interests that are an impediment to progress," he said.

Rather than fund a space plane through the Air Force, Cooper said "it is far more preferable to give authority and resources to a small technically qualified team, with minimum oversight, to pursue an approach that takes existing or near-term technology, tests and proves a useful capability, fills-in technology as needed and available, and then improves that capability " while, of course, maintaining a vision of the desired final objective."

On the issue of whether NASA and the DOD should get together to develop a space plane, Cooper said "NASA"s priorities are substantially different from the DOD"s."

"I believe Congress and the Administration should give the DOD the clear lead on reusable rockets," he said.  "NASA should participate in a supporting role with respect to the technology.  The DOD should "build, test and grow" a military space plane capability, beginning with sub-orbital missions."

Cooper warned, "A program without a clear goal will absorb any amount of money that can be authorized and appropriated."