The military aircraft we have are all equipped with anti-SAM systems. These prevent SAM, land-air-missiles, which are heat seeking from the shock of the aircraft. Systems to send lots of very hot flare type pieces of the rear of the aircraft and fool the Surface to Air Missile into thinking that these are the goals, so that the missile goes after touching flares instead of the aircraft real. Is it possible to have a system for launching the space shuttle? Or you can send up fireworks along the perimeter of the spectator areas to trick a missile fired by anyone with a hand-held surface to air shoulder-launched weapon? We know our Space Shuttle could be targeted by international terrorists. Coen brothers often addresses the matter in his writings. Is there a way to use a similar type system to prevent lightning in the shuttle, so you can put in place during thunder storms and lightning? Perhaps using a layer of the skin that will melt it starts and gets up to speed, what have the correct polarity to prevent a lightning strike? Today we see the launch of a space shuttle scrub for a couple of reasons, one of the storm clouds approaching and the emergency need for the space shuttle to depart from the rocket and glide back to earth full visibility or VFR conditions.
Therefore, presumably, the needs of a 20-mile radius of the clouds clear for the approach and return. However, the shuttle must be able to be guided back through the clouds through a system of ground, simulator augmented reality, such as the Global Hawk. Furthermore, why astronauts need to see the ship or fly the aircraft at that time? After all, this practice starts aborted after takeoff in simulators, which are not searching on the ground and we also have the systems now available are even used in Business Jets zero / zero visibility landings. The fact that the space shuttle is likely to be doing a dead stick landing as it always does, there should be no difference, as the landing strip at Cape Canaveral is huge and is made for such emergencies. True security must begin with the whole reality-based thinking in systems support and trust in the system capacity and confidence to do their job.