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[caramida]

In today's Space Review, Taylor Dinerman's article entitled Low-cost access to orbit: space Marines to the rescue includes the following:

In July 2002, the Marine Corps released a Universal Needs Statement that defined the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion (SUSTAIN) concept that, if successful, will give the US a “…heretofore unimaginable assault support speed, range, altitude and strategic surprise” capability. SUSTAIN is an RLV that will carry a squad (13 men) into space and land it anywhere on Earth within two hours with, among other requirements, “flexible launch on demand… to any orbital inclination.”

The article goes on to describe how the V-22 tilt-rotor plane is a direct result of Marine lobbying for a VTOL transport mechanism that had better speed and range than a helicopter. It would seem that using a similar timeline, the USMC could in theory, be dropping screaming Marines anywhere on the earth from space by 2045.

Military applications aside, it also opens doors to developement of commercial Reusable Launch Vehichles. Welcome to the future.* * *On an unrelated note, I took a look inside the new Cyberpunk 3rd Edition book yesterday when I visited my FLGS. It was... dissapointing. I think we can all agree that no matter how they are dressed, Barbies are not very cyberpunk. Alas, Babylon. Dear Mike Pondsmith, next time please splurge and hire some original art. It doesn't matter that digital shots of dolls with mirrorshades are practically free. It brings the production values down to close to the same value. Just my opinion, though. Others mileage may vary.

With thanks to Kingdaddy for the original link.