Air Force's Mysterious Spaceplane Finally Lands After Spending 2.5 Years in Orbit
https://gizmodo.com/air-force-spaceplane-lands-after-nearly-3-years-1849779297
The U.S. Space Force's spaceplane touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after spending two and a half years orbiting around Earth on a secretive mission.
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-6 (OTV-6) landed on November 12 at 5:22 a.m. ET, setting a new record of 908 days in orbit. The Boeing-built reusable vehicle's previous record had been 780 consecutive days in orbit.
[...] The uncrewed spaceplane also carried a service module to increase its payload capacity to orbit. The service module didn't return to Earth, however, as it was discarded and disposed of prior to reentry.
As the name suggests, the spaceplane is an airplane-spacecraft hybrid that's able to launch into orbit like a spacecraft before landing horizontally back on Earth like an airplane. The Space Force didn't specify the exact capabilities of its spaceplane, but noted that it would be able to carry experiments to orbit and bring them back to Earth for analysis.
"This mission highlights the Space Force's focus on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force (DAF)," General Chance Saltzman, chief of Space Operations, said in a statement.
The mission payload included a solar energy experiment designed by the Naval Research Lab that's meant to capture sunlight and convert it into electrical energy, in addition to the U.S. Air Force Academy's FalconSat-8. NASA also loaded the spaceplane with its own experiments, including the Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space (METIS-2), which will study the effects of space exposure on different materials.
Aside from this, it's not entirely clear what the spaceplane was doing up there for the past 908 days. The U.S. Space Force has shared little information about its reusable vehicle and it was unclear as to when the vehicle was going to land.
Sonic boom rips across Florida as Space Force plane X-37B returns
Sonic boom rips across Florida as Space Force plane X-37B returns
https://news.yahoo.com/sonic-boom-rips-across-florida-203000017.htmlPeople across Florida were awoken early Saturday morning to the sound of the X-37B returning to Earth after a record-breaking 908 days in orbit.
Reports of a sonic boom were widespread, from Titusville to Tampa, as the U.S. Space Force autonomous vehicle touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County at 5:22 a.m.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday November 16 2022, @07:17AM (4 children)
What is the strategic benefit of such a vehicle? Is it reduced cost to orbit (but we have reusable rockets now a la SpaceX)?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Unixnut on Wednesday November 16 2022, @07:39AM (1 child)
Well, according to a cursory glance at wikipedia, the X-37 project has its genesis in 1999, quite a bit before SpaceX showed that the concept of reusable rockets are practically viable, let alone cost effective.
Projects like this tend to be funded with a multi-decade lifespan, so even if better technology shows up in the interim, they might as well make use of the sunk investment costs and run the project to completion.
Saying that, perhaps the X-37 has features that SpaceX rockets don't have. I seem to remember hearing it is very hard to track because it is very maneuverable, and of course its classified nature. It stays up there for years at a time, and the general public has no clue what it is doing.
Could be running experiments, could be spying, could be testing weapons, all things that they would not want others to track and record. In such a case a maneuverable vehicle that can quickly change its orbit is very useful.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 16 2022, @04:31PM
Saying that, perhaps the X-37 has features that SpaceX rockets don't have.
BINGO! We had drones in Vietnam, I saw them when I was stationed in Thailand in 1974. I'm pretty sure that space plane can read the date on a dime laying in the street in Moscow, and can probably watch Putin fucking his concubine right through his roof as if it were made of glass.
That space plane obviously has technology that we haven't even dreamed up yet, and there's no way they're going to let anybody like Musk see it.
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(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Wednesday November 16 2022, @07:41AM
I have it on good authority that it was sent up as the Shabbos goy for the Jewish space lasers. Otherwise how would they run them on Saturdays?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2022, @08:36AM
It could be used to capture satellites and bring them to any military base with a runway.
(Score: 3, Funny) by turgid on Wednesday November 16 2022, @10:31AM (1 child)
It's trolling us, isn't it? I bet it drops hundreds of little black triangles and flying saucers with flashing lights to cause hundreds of UFO sightings. Those guys have a sense of humour.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 16 2022, @04:36PM
Those guys have a sense of humour.
I assure you, they don't [mcgrew.info].
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org