USAF Spaceplane

[ECSNorway]

Continuing the theme of space-related news, the USAF Spaceplane reported to have launched several months ago has returned successfully to Earth via an automated descent to a soft runway landing (the second in history; the first was by the Buran prototype.)
All that they're saying, so far, is that 'all mission objectives were completed'. 
Boeing has been commissioned to build a second unit, to be launched next spring.
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Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Rod.H]

And also the X-34s are getting inspected in an attempt to see if they are spaceworthy, http://jalopnik.com/57005...-resurrected-space-plane

I think they've basically decided if the airframes still good they're going to update all the avionics to the level of the X-37 and offer them for commercial use.

[LilFluff]

The news of the successful landing has me wondering if some of the Air Force people might start looking at something like the Black Horse proposal again. For those who don't remember Black Horse was Pioneer Rocketplane's proposal for a "Stage-and-a-Half" to orbit space plane. It would take off like a regular jet but carrying just enough fuel to meet up with a tanker. On reaching the tanker it would take on additional fuel and then burn the rest of the way to orbit (or a sub-orbital hop for the 'Colt' test model).
This is similar in some ways to SpaceShip One but with mid-air refueling instead of being carried up to altitude by a larger carrier aircraft. This means that the Black Horse doesn't have to be designed to be aerodynamic one its own as well as being part of an aerodynamically sound pairing. Especially similar to SpaceShip One, Black Horse wouldn't require the long lead time of building a traditional rocket stack which would have to be built at a factory, assembled, slowly towed out to a launch pad, etc. like the Shuttle, Dragon, and other traditional designs need. It would just need fuel and a runway.
Even if they don't feel like funding the full scale Black Horse, the sub-orbital Colt could be tempting since it would let them put up a satellite more or less whenever they felt like it. Admittedly that's discounting the time needed to build a satellite. But if you have a vehicle that can put a satellite in orbit within hours of a general saying they want it, it would make sense to pre-order a few spy er, weather satellites to keep on base with the launch vehicle. "What's that General? You suddenly have the desire to spy on er, know the ground level weather of The Duchy of Grand Fenwick? Two hours and we'll something launched just for that."
MIT web pages about Black Horse
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Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[CattyNebulart]

weather is important military information, if you know the kinds of visibility that's available, the winds, if it's raining, etc, since for example stealth planes don't tend to play nicely with rain, so you need to plan missions around that. if the roads are bad you need to know what the weather conditions are going to be like or you risk not being able to supply your troops, and if the weather is bad enough your troops can't march, or at least won't make much progress. this all also applies to the enemy, and so if you know the weather you can get a good idea of what they can do.

So the military might indeed emergency launch a mere weather satellite.

So if fighting an opponent that can down satellites it can be important to get replacements up quickly, especially since most countries can't bring down many satellites.

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E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[LilFluff]

Further, easy access to space, even if you are talking very low orbits could let you do all sorts of things. According to Wikipedia the majority of satellites are in a Low Earth Orbit that takes around 90 minutes to circle the Earth. So have the General call up the Air Force's Space Command to tell them, "Ruritania has told the UN it won't give up the Q-Bomb factory it built with the Duchy of Grand Fenwick's assistance. We want don't want them to so much as open a window without our knowing." So space command flings an even ten satellites up.
Sure, they've been tosses into very low orbits that won't last more than a few weeks/months, but in the meantime every ten minutes we've got an eye passing over the facility. And that's just counting the passes by the new guys.
Heck, if your plan calls for tossing things into very low orbits then put them in a shell like a scaled down X37 (which is already basically a scaled down Shuttle). You can skimp a bit on radiation hardening because it isn't going to be up long (just throw in a little redundancy). Figure on putting things up for anywhere from weeks to a year, then pulling them back and gutting them. Keep what's still good, upgrade other bits, then send it back up.
Or go the other direction, don't bother making them recoverable and simply get a 'Good Enough' design that can be churned out on an assembly line. Which starts making me think of the article A Rocket A Day Keeps the High Costs Away
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Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.