Air Force Extends Plug-and-Play Spacecraft 77
coondoggie writes "Looking to build strategic satellites in days if need be, rather than months, the Air Force is pushing forward with what it calls plug-and-play spacecraft. This week it awarded a $500,000 order to Northrop Grumman to begin designing the plug-and-play spacecraft 'bus' which will offer standard interfaces for a variety of payload components, much like a laptop computer that immediately recognizes new hardware when it's plugged in, Northrop stated. The order was awarded under a contract that has a ceiling of $200 million."
God bless the idiot-proof Air Force (Score:4, Funny)
Hapablap: Oh...not the Harrier! We've got a war tomorrow.
Bob: [sees control panel with two buttons, STOP and FLY]
God bless the idiot-proof Air Force.
He presses the FLY button, and the jet taxis forward into a ditch.
Sideshow Bob switches to the Wright Brothers plane.
this very same thinking (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just laptops? (Score:1, Funny)
I suspect the intent was to draw some sort of parallel between laptops and spacecraft... I suppose since a laptop is portable... and so is a spacecraft.
Because a PC is much letter portable than a spacecraft...