The Air Force wants manna from Heaven.
The Air Force is interested in extremely rapid resupply:
The space infrastructure company Sierra Space announced Oct. 3 it has secured backing from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to advance its “Ghost” spacecraft, a system designed to deliver cargo from space to any location on Earth in under 90 minutes.
Known for developing space habitats and vehicles like the Dream Chaser spaceplane, Sierra Space won a contract of undisclosed value as part of the AFRL’s Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics (REGAL) program. The Air Force is exploring the potential of space vehicles to rapidly transport critical supplies from orbital warehouses back to Earth. This could include reusable reentry vehicles capable of delivering payloads from prepositioned stocks in orbit.
Oh FFS. We'll spend money to put supplies in space so we can get it to Earth quickly? And we'll either know what we'll need or put lots in orbit to cover any contingency? The reasons given for why we might need that capability are BS. Not even SpaceX makes that cost effective.
And it is interesting that the Air Force is seeking a mission that you'd think Space Force should have--if it made sense. Which it doesn't. It isn't just the Army that the Air Force jealously guards its turf from.
Yes, yes, I know Space Force is officially within the Department of the Air Force. Yet the Air Force was once a part of the Army. The Air Force apparently wants to nip any future problems in the bud by not making an Army-like problem that exacerbates different priorities for air power.
Any mission that requires 90 minutes to resupply--with a tiny amount of supplies that a reentry vehicle could carry--is already doomed. Spend the money on C-17s.
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