The U.S. Air Force has launched an unmanned spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida for a mission shrouded in secrecy.

In a statement, the Air Force said the X-37B orbital test vehicle was launched atop a rocket late Thursday. The craft is a robotic space plane that resembles a small space shuttle.

The Air Force says the craft is designed to provide a platform for experiments to be performed while in orbit, though it gave no details of those experiments or what the craft is carrying in its payload bay.

Air Force Colonel Andre Lovett said in the statement the launch helps ensure that U.S. war fighters will be provided the capabilities they need in the future.

The space plane can stay in orbit up to nine months, but the Air Force would not say how long it will be in space.

The craft can be landed remotely. It is expected to land at a California Air Force base at the end of its mission.

Corey85 wrote:Is it just me or does that thing look a little rickety.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:The whole basis of this thread is wrong.

The word robot comes from the word robota meaning literally serf labor, and, figuratively, "drudgery" or "hard work" in Czech, Slovak and Polish. The Czech playwright and writer Karel Čapek came up with it.
It is an international word now, not english.

Erasoketa wrote:

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:The whole basis of this thread is wrong.

The word robot comes from the word robota meaning literally serf labor, and, figuratively, "drudgery" or "hard work" in Czech, Slovak and Polish. The Czech playwright and writer Karel Čapek came up with it.
It is an international word now, not english.

And secret, space and plane are latin words...

According to Wired, a new U.S. Army aircraft takes the best elements of helicopters, drones and snipers, and wraps them into one package. Dubbed the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS), it's an unmanned Vigilante helicopter with a high-powered sniper rifle mounted onto a highly stabilized turret.

Originally, the ARSS was designed for urban warfare, since it can hover down small streets and snipe targets in tight spaces. But now, the Army sees potential for using the aircraft when dealing with Somali pirates. It'd be similar to the chopper drone the Navy uses to bust drug runners, but for the fact that the ARSS could fire precision shots with .3338-caliber rounds onto a ship. Rather than have a human hanging out of a swaying helicopter and trying to hit a target, the drone would do all the work while an operator controlled it from the ground with a video game-like controller.

Not only will the ARSS save some lives by keeping more servicemen on the ground, but it's also a much cheaper way to battle pirates. A Vigilante chopper is much lighter, uses less fuel than larger helicopters and its rounds are less expensive, meaning the Army could get more snipers off the ground and patrolling the seas.

dogma wrote:I though the sweetest words in the English language were:
1. Flying.
2. Assassin.
3. Drone.

http://www.switched.com/2010/04/22/army-tests-sniper-drone-chopper-for-use-against-somali-pirates/

According to Wired, a new U.S. Army aircraft takes the best elements of helicopters, drones and snipers, and wraps them into one package. Dubbed the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS), it's an unmanned Vigilante helicopter with a high-powered sniper rifle mounted onto a highly stabilized turret.

Originally, the ARSS was designed for urban warfare, since it can hover down small streets and snipe targets in tight spaces. But now, the Army sees potential for using the aircraft when dealing with Somali pirates. It'd be similar to the chopper drone the Navy uses to bust drug runners, but for the fact that the ARSS could fire precision shots with .3338-caliber rounds onto a ship. Rather than have a human hanging out of a swaying helicopter and trying to hit a target, the drone would do all the work while an operator controlled it from the ground with a video game-like controller.

Not only will the ARSS save some lives by keeping more servicemen on the ground, but it's also a much cheaper way to battle pirates. A Vigilante chopper is much lighter, uses less fuel than larger helicopters and its rounds are less expensive, meaning the Army could get more snipers off the ground and patrolling the seas.

Commander Endova wrote:I thought this thread was going to be about "I Love You or some other sappy sentiments, but this is like, dinosaurs with lasers level awesome.