Article

2007-07-28 Science & Technology

DARPA Releases "System F6" Program Details

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-07-28 18:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Yeah, sounds possible, right after we take care of the religion of blood and Al Gore's carbon footprint.

Posted by wxjames 2007-07-28 19:12|| 2007-07-28 19:12|| Front Page Top

#2 Networked satellites. Similar to computers that are networked together.

Not sure about how the web server is set up for Rantburg, but sometimes their are really three different servers networked togeter. One for the web page outline, another for a database that has the content, a third for authentication if required, to change content. Much faster and more powerfull than one server. But that is if you have many customers, thus the need for speed, power and bookoo disk space.

Posted by Ulomons Untervehr3521 2007-07-28 19:26|| 2007-07-28 19:26|| Front Page Top

#3 "Future Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft united by Information exchange". Their media guy needs to limit himself to one Rockstar.

Posted by Super Hose 2007-07-28 20:39|| 2007-07-28 20:39|| Front Page Top

#4 We dreamed this one up in an unclassified area with some Northrop Grumman and Lockheed boys (and one girl) 3+ years ago. Looking at the Iridium orbital coverage, for example. Or elliptical orbits, or the mid-orbits McCaw was going to use.

Constraints: individual plane must have same basis for lateral comms, data bus, control bus and power bus. Must small/light to be launchable by alternate means with minimal preparation (think B52 at high altitude launching like it did the old X-15's). Must be inexpensive enough to launch many of them. Must support the following types of configurations based on modular components (power supply, antennas, controls, orbital processors, sensors): communications link (to/from ground), communications relay (satellite to satellite, with lasers = uninterceptable), electro-optical, infrared imaging, infrared non-imaging, radar imaging, lidar imaging (allegedly sees deep into water), elint sweep/tipper, elint focused, orbital weather, specialized/covert comms.

Basically, we came up with several standard pwoer supply types, several common communications types, and guessed at the needs for some of the other components.

Turned making satellites into a exercise in Legos.

Also rendered Chinese ASAT efforts moot - why bother if we have so many of them up there, and we can have spares parked, as well as replacements on-orbit in very short order.

We used the Iridium sytem for orbital mechanics, and figured at any given time, any given place on earth would be visible to 1-2 EO satellites 2-4 elints, 1 comm links, 1 IR, 1 special imager (Lidar/IR) and 0-1 experimental/special purpose, in addition to all the planes that can see that point having visibility to each other (for relaying commands) and to the comm relay satellites.

Advantages also include the ability to simply come up with better payloads as tech gets better, pop them on, and fly them out.

As it stands now, if we pitch a defense or intelligence satellite into the drink, thats billions down the drain. One of these is 1/10th that at most.

There's other stuff that is not classified, but I don't feel comfortable about talking to it with whats in that article.

Never heard a thing after we sent it up the food chain. I guess someone read it.

Posted by OldSpook 2007-07-28 22:39|| 2007-07-28 22:39|| Front Page Top

#5 By the way, Dale Brown I think wrote a similar thing years ago in his "Old Dog" techno-thrillers.

NIRT-Sats I thknk he called them. Once again sci-fi (military sci-fi) beats us to the punch.

the only problem is "not invented here" syndrome the big aerospace companies have. They are invest in monolithic, big vehicles and the launch facilities, engineering methods, etc that come with them. "But this has always worked, its proven" is what we got back.

Yeah, proven, blah, Right up until you lose too many satellites to the Chinese and are blind and have no alternatives.

Too inflexible for modern combat, too brittle to survive in the future. Glad someone is changing it.

Posted by OldSpook 2007-07-28 22:43|| 2007-07-28 22:43|| Front Page Top

#6 It seems to miss the word "secure"...

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2007-07-28 23:24|| 2007-07-28 23:24|| Front Page Top

23:53 Seafarious
23:38 Bright Pebbles
23:33 Bright Pebbles
23:30 Super Hose
23:28 Sigmund Freud
23:26 Bright Pebbles
23:24 Bright Pebbles
23:17 Sigmund Freud
23:14 OldSpook
23:11 regular joe
23:03 gromgoru
23:02 Speasing Sinatra3559
22:47 anymouse
22:44 Halliburton - Colonial Affairs Division
22:43 OldSpook
22:39 OldSpook
22:37 Halliburton - Colonial Affairs Division
22:30 gromgoru
22:20 Mike
22:12 DarthVader
22:11 DarthVader
22:05 WTF
22:01 OldSpook
21:57 OldSpook