MARINES IN SPACE:
In 2002 there was talk about a new concept for the United States Marine Corp called SUSTAIN. The concept put forward by DARPA to fullfill this concept was called Project Hot Eagle.
As Military.Com reported back in 2006:
Marines Want Spaceplane
"Col. Jack Wassink is a former Marine Corps jet jockey with a weird new mission. This blunt, 45-year-old chief of the Marine Corps's tiny Space Integration Branch in Quantico, Virginia, shepherds the Marines' radical vision of space warfare.
Unlike the Air Force, Navy and Army, all three of which sponsor expensive satellite programs, the cash-strapped Marines are pushing just one space concept. It's called Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion, or SUSTAIN, and it's a reusable spaceplane meant to get a squad of Marines to any hotspot on Earth in two hours -- then get them out. The idea is to reinforce embattled embassies, take out terrorist leaders or defuse hostage situations before it's too late. "The Marine Corps needs [this] capability," Brig. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer told Congress in 2004.
"The Corps has always been an expeditionary force, a force of readiness, a 911 force," Wassink says. "All SUSTAIN is, is a requirement to move Marines very rapidly from one place to another. Space lends itself to that role."
Spaceplanes -- that is, craft that take off and land like airplanes but achieve low orbit using rocket motors -- aren't science fiction anymore. In 2004, Burt Rutan's Space Ship One snared the $10 million X-Prize by demonstrating that a relatively cheap and simple vehicle could get a man into low orbit in two stages and return him safely. Air Force Brig. Gen. S. Pete Worden said Rutan's bird offers a glimpse of a future military space transport. "It's just a scaled-up version of that that would do this [SUSTAIN] mission." --end quote--
This was not well recieved by congress and funding for a full blown program was long in coming. There was talk about "yes maybe in 30 years" the technology would be there so that this capability could be utilized but not now.
Well it appears the military still sees a potential for use from the new space launch concept ushered in by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites's SpaceShipOne.
The original capability called for a vehicle that could both land and takeoff from the landing zone site. Personally I thought that was a deal breaker and pushing the concept past what it needed. The point is to get Marines to a trouble spot where they can do their job. Extraction would have to come after the position was secured or the marines would have to hoof it out to an extraction point. Something that is often the case with marines.
CAPABILITY:
The Marine Corp would like to have a two hour 'point to point' ability to land troops anywhere on the planet. By utilizing a suboribital capability the Marines would not have to worry about violating traditional airspace rules. As with pretty much everything having to do with human space flight the bottom line is do we have the technology and do we have funding to achieve those goals.
HOW IT WORKS:
Following on the work by Scaled Composites The military would use a two vehicle (two stage) system. 
The image to the right illustrates how it would work. A mother ship is used to carry the suborbital troop transport ship to a height of 40,000 to 60,000 feet (1). It drops the troop transport and the transport then ignites it's rocket engines and propels the craft on a suborbital trajectory (2). The vehicle then comes down and lands at or near the hotspot (3). The troops then disembark and secure the landing zone and or move to the point of engagement.
IN THE NEWS:
Although the prospects for SUSTAIN have not been good the military is once again looking to somehow incorporate suborbital capability into everyday operations.
Pentagon seeks military role for space tourism technology
"As commercial spaceflight draws closer to reality, the US Department of Defense is officially interested.
The National Security Space Office (NSSO) has invited companies such as Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Xcor to a conference from 24-26 February in San Antonio, Texas to discuss how suborbital technology could be applied to military needs.
The conference follows the release of an official request for information for a new programme called the "rapid delivery of military capabilities via space". The document seeks information from commercial firms about new technologies that could loft a 200kg (440lb) payload above 92km (57 miles) altitude to ranges up to 9,250km (5,000nm).
"Some of these [commercial spaceflight] companies are starting to become aware that their capability can be used for national security needs," says Lt Col Paul Damphousse, a US Marine Corps representative at the NSSO. "We're just trying to find out what types of activities are going on and if they're applicable to some of the needs that we have."
The USMC has documented an ambitious need for a spacecraft that can transport up to 13 marines through space to any spot on Earth within 2h. The official concept - dubbed Small Unit Space Transport Insertion - was launched in 2002, but its requirement for an orbital-class, reusable spacecraft has pushed it perhaps decades into the future."
--end quote--
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE:
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that meeting. As I am not an industry insider I have no clue what the conversations were but if any members have heard anything about the outcome of this meeting please feel free to leave your comments.
Suborbital space tourism is going to happen, if not at the end of this year then next year for sure. Once the general public becomes both aware of it and is comfortable with it then it is not a great stretch to believe the military will also have this capability. Do you think this is something the military should adopt or should they be kept out of suborbital space?
SUGGESTED READING:
Here is an older article from 2006 that gives a great rundown of this proposal.
Popular Science - Marines in Space
POLL RESULTS:
The poll yesterday: "How should America approach asteroid mitigation?" had very interesting results. Turnout by DKOS members was double from what we normally see. The strong turnout did not give a strong result but instead deadlocked in a tie. The poll was split between those who feel a robotic solution is best (47%) versus using both manned and robotic methods (47%). A very low (4%) expressed no opinion.
This poll will be offered again in the future to see if it once again is this close.
STAR TREK: In the News.
Star Trek: The Experience to be resurrected in Las Vegas
"Last year, the Hilton in Las Vegas decided to close Star Trek: The Experience after a 10 year run when the contract between the hotel, CBS, Paramount, and Cedar Fair (which owns Star Trek: The Experience) ended without renewal.
This left the Star Trek exhibition which included a museum, themed restaurant, costumed characters, shopping, and amusement rides based on different timeframes within the Star Trek series, without a home and definitely without a future. Star Trek fans were naturally saddened by the shutdown as serious fans flocked to the "Experience" to immerse themselves into the Star Trek universe as much as they could.
Fortunately for those fans that did not get the chance to see the exhibition for themselves, they will have yet another chance to do so as Star Trek: The Experience has found a new home in Las Vegas. According to reports, a new contract has been signed that will move the Star Trek exhibition to the Neonopolis Center located downtown.
The relocated exhibition, which is set to open on May 8th, will only feature new retail shopping, Quark's Restaurant and Bar, and a Museum of the Future this year. Upgrades including interactive rides won't be available until the end of 2010."
--end quote--
YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
Surprisingly one of the hardest aspects of doing these daily diaries has nothing to do with space or space politics, or even in what story to write about. It is deciding what couple of comments from the day before either advance the debate or illustrate what the general view of the conversations were. Here is a couple from yesterday I hope brings, to readers that missed yesterday's diary, a sense of what was talked about.
"Investing in science and space exploration will give huge dividends to all people. It is well worth the money spent. I would much rather be spending hundreds of billions on space than building bombs and paying mercenaries to kill people in our name." - twinpeaks
"I once argued with a Creationist I said that the Universe could not have been created at one moment 10,000 years ago because if it had been we would not be able to see most of the starlight in the sky (because light only travels so fast) and the stars we could see would all be decreasing at a uniform rate (every blue star would be burning down at the same rate, etc) I received the answer that ... "THEN THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE WRONG!" It was then that I finally recognized people's ability to make up their own kind of reality." - Larry Madill
"All you people who voted "Use both"? Yeah, you know who you are. You've been watching waaaaaay too many action movies! You don't send people out to do the job an expendable robot can do. Oh, but don't let the robots get too smart, otherwise they start rebelling against the suicide missions!" - JayBat
"Feh! You're gonna hafta have someone a way's out, to deal with inverse-square radio delays, sport. Unless you make them robots really, really smart, which you warn against. Takes your cherce!" - JeffW
TODAY'S POLL:
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