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Re:Mysterious US spaceplane returns to Earth by ChuckMcM on Friday October 17, 2014 @09:26PM (#8474308)
It is an interesting, if perplexing, capability. My guess is that they are using it basically like a refuelable reconnaissance satellite. That way they can task it to various hot spots, keep its orbit changing so that folks won't be able to predict when it will be overhead, and yet not lose the hardware once it is out of gas.

I note that a Falcon Heavy will be able to toss it into a GTO :-) That is when you can use it to be really mean to people if you choose.

Re:Mysterious US spaceplane returns to Earth by gojirra on Friday October 17, 2014 @10:12PM (#8474399)
And to elaborate on what a GTO is, rather than permit the preceeding comment to become ensconced in jargon, the "T" stands for "transfer" in the sense of transferring from maybe a lower orbit to a higher orbit, or, in other words, changing altitude.

So, a Geosychronous Transfer Orbit, gains in altitude, while staying directly overhead at the same point on the earth's surface, even though the earth below is still in rotational motion. But, at points closer to the equator (where much of the good rocketry real estate resides), to keep up with a fixed point on the ground, while traveling farther and farther away from the central axis of rotation, ever greater lateral distances must be covered at increasingly greater speeds.

Meaning, if you can keep your rocket directly overhead, over a zone and airspace you can control militarily (by denying enemies access to it, or maybe by choosing a place that doesn't need to be defended), while putting it as high in the sky as possible, it will be much more difficult to shoot down, providing the advantage of being able to then move this proverbial chess piece into position anywhere you want, without too much concern of being denied access to that perch.

Re:Mysterious US spaceplane returns to Earth by waterlesscloud on Saturday October 18, 2014 @01:04AM (#8474655)
It's also re-instrumentable too, so as tech and needs change, so can the instruments.