Gizmodo
Start buying Cold War nuclear shelters and piling up the canned food, because Boeing Advanced Systems has started System F6, "DARPA's Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange space technology program." In other words: multiple, networked specialized spacecraft swarms that are intelligent enough to perform a single coordinated task together, like analyzing the crops or deciding to destroy humanity, Skynet-style. Actually, it could completely change satellites for the better, according to some experts:
French space scientist P. Molette said, in his 1984 article on fractionated spacecrafts, that they may lead us to more flexible and robust satellites systems.
In his paper, Molette concluded that even while fractionated spacecraft will have overall higher mass and cost than traditional satellites, these penalties will be outweighed by the advantages of having modules mass-produced and launched into space, which would introduce the same economies of scale and efficiency that PC clusters have over supercomputers.
Boeing Advance Systems will put the concept into practice, under DARPA System F6 program:
Boeing Among Industry Teams Selected to Design New DARPA Space System ST. LOUIS, March 04, 2008 — A team led by Boeing [NYSE: BA] has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to demonstrate initial technologies for a new spacecraft system architecture concept.A $12,891,049 cost-plus-fixed-fee, 12-month Phase 1 contract was awarded to Boeing Advanced Systems to research, design, develop and test DARPA's Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange (System F6) space technology and demonstration program.
The DARPA System F6 is based on a concept whereby a group of spacecraft operate together wirelessly as a single unit to enable flexible data sharing and distributed processing that will allow cooperative communications among the spacecraft. This concept of multiple spacecraft operating together to perform a mission similar to that of a single larger spacecraft is known as "fractionation."
"We believe the fractionation spacecraft concept proposed by our team can be a game-changer that could provide the high degree of flexibility needed for responsive space missions," said Bob Friend, director for Boeing Operationally Responsive Space.The objective of the DARPA System F6 is to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of a satellite architecture wherein the functionality of a single spacecraft is replaced by a cluster of wirelessly interconnected spacecraft that could perform a wider variety of tasks than single systems. Along with potential increases in flexibility, this technology also may reduce overall program costs.
The team led by Boeing Advanced Network and Space Systems, Huntington Beach, Calif., includes L-3 Communications Interstate Electronics, Anaheim, Calif.; Millennium Space Systems, Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Octant Technologies, San Jose, Calif.; and Science Applications International Corp., Torrance, Calif.Expected for completion by Feb. 20, 2009, Phase 1 will culminate in an F6 Preliminary Design Review that evaluates each industry team's concept.
There you have it: phase 1 completed on February 20 2009, less than one year for actual nuclear holocaust or cheaper, more efficient sats. [Boeing and Wikipedia]
Comments
I like how they tried to sneak "Distributed Payload Operations" in there. Oh and by the way, you know that whole December 2012 thing....
This is in response to China's "secret" initiative to develop satellite disabling technology. In the military space race, a swarm could sustain individual losses.
So, as a group they'll look for Sarah Connor?
you should've linked to the canned cheeseburger in the first paragraph where you wrote "canned food"
@IUSEAMACSOSUEME: I am going to the twinky factory in Natick on that day with Peter Griffin.
This is good as long as one least one of them has some extra oxygen tanks on board for those crazy space camp kids who accidentally launch the shuttle.
this is more like the borg
I have just one word for this, "Replicators".
I'm pretty sure "Wireless Power Transfer" is another way of saying "Particle Accelerator"
Looks like a formation flying project. We used to specialize in this at my old company - it's cool stuff, but tricky to get right.
Year Zero is fast approaching....be prepared!
@wezelboy: As opposed to power transfer via kinetic impact?
@wezelboy: The guy from "Future Weapons" just pitched one the size of the Burj Dubai.
Here is a helicopter swarm using four DraganFlyers....
[www.rainydaymagazine.com]
One will take over once the "object" enters its grid, but will work as a group since the grids overlap.
"Those are no moons."
Well I'll run up to Everett and let everyone know that in lieu of the air tanker they'll be on the deathstar. Back in a minute.
Funny how the name "Skynet" is so appropiate for these satellites....mark your calendars February 20, 2009 as.... JUDGEMENT DAY!
Oh, I thought those were space hotels.
We're going to build these things, some alien race is going to be navigating through as usual with no intention of saying hi and notice we have fractional programmable spacecraft. Some alien script kiddie will then blast our Skynet with some zombie code and they'll cruise off with a swarm of earth-drones. No doubt they'll be used to rain destruction upon some unsuspecting emo-world invoking an inter-planetary counterstrike.
Centuries from now after Earth is but an anecdote in the annals of galactic history the most prominent contribution we will have made to interstellar civilization will be a new expletive - "Boeing" (painted on the sides of the drones).
@Sloth:
Pffffft Please. Everyone knows (Including Nostradamus and the Mayan Incas) that the end of the world is going to be (WRITE THIS DOWN):
DECEMBER 21st, 2012
Read it. Know it. Live it (at least until that date).
@Out2gtcha:
yes but everyone ELSE also knows that out calendar is off by 4 years... it IS 2012!
@Out2gtcha:
also, there's no such thing as a Mayan Inca. There were Mayans, and there were Inca.
They left out, "cloaking" and "self-replicating" from the specs. Yes, I miss DS9.
@nutbastard: You've never heard of a Minca Coat? I think it's italian.
@nutbastard:
Woops here ya go: ,
Its that comma I left out between Mayans and Inca.
Oh yeah, s
forgot the S too.
@nutbastard:
Here ya go: r
I'll take that "t" and put it away for later usage and/or future misspellings.
Their calendar only goes to 2012 because they ran out of space on the rock.
OK, we see the diagram where the subsets "F6" and "Cluster Operations" intersect. That, my friends, is where this government project will terminate in a Cluster F---. A Wireless, Distributed, Networking Cluster F---. Or maybe 6 of them.
(Wish I could laugh like Bender.)
@Barcard: F--- isn't a 6 letter word though.
@Out2gtcha:
d'oh!
I can smell the orbital weapons platform goodness already... smells like licorice, fresh bread, and napalm.
DARPA is like the officially sanctioned mad scientist club for the US gov. Got to love those lab-coated bust bodies.
@Out2gtcha: April 19, 2011. New date for JUDGEMENT DAY! Watch the "Sarah Connor" Chronicles, and become a Believer! Believe in the machines!
...Busy bodies... Wow that was funny in an odd way. Busty buddies are something entirely different.
@tamoko:
Busty buddies?!?!
LINK! LINK! LINK!
"...System F6, "DARPA's Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange space technology program."
In other news, the professionals who will run a new DARPA system are attending D5 training this week. Said the director of the program, "D5 involves learning how to dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge while locating the exhaust port."
Sudden realization: if the Death Star were an organic life-form, then Luke's attack is the equivalent of stuffing it with an exploding butt-plug.
Looks like google earth will have a new "people watcher" view added with these babies.
In all seriousness though, I'm failing to see how this will significantly alter the strategic balance in the superpowers. Either it produces a complete ICBM shield and the US dominates (not likely anyone would let this happen) or it gets hacked / new weapons are developed to defeat it, leaving mutually assured destruction, well, uhm.... assured.
No THAT is a good photoshop.
It will use Heavy Liquid Naquadria as a power Source.
@Out2gtcha: i may just biy that domain... just for shits and giggles.
..buy.. I can't spell for shit today.
god we are going to destroy ourselves. this is plain scary
LOVED the picture, absolutely hilarious
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