The X-37B is not on its first mission, and its longest time spent in orbit is 780 days. The agenda of the craft has been a well-kept secret for more than 20 years. Built by Boeing, the X-37, aka Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) started out as a NASA project in 1999. In 2004 it was transferred to the Air Force. Since then it has been orbiting our planet on a number of secret missions. As today’s US military arm in space faces greater threats it has become more outspoken about its strategy and demonstrates what it can do.
Mission number six of the space drone X-37B broke the 500 days in orbit mark. The spacecraft blasted off into space on an Atlas V-501 rocket in May 2020, but its configuration allows it to ride on a SpaceX Falcon rocket as well. Its adaptability and reentry powers that allow it to roll in hot on the tarmac not only give the spacecraft a familiar NASA-Shuttle-look but allows it to carry experiments into a lower orbit and return them to Earth, as well as executing rapid deployments and versatile missions. The X-37B can dock and undock with service modules or satellites and carry payloads and crafts to space.
More Than Just A Show
The primary missions of the X-37B are classified. Media have speculated that the spacecraft is a warfare-oriented military plane capable of spying and may even be weaponized, but those are claims which the Pentagon has denied. As satellite traffic and tensions between China, the US, and Russia increase over satellite warfare, and the US military role in space increases, unmanned spacecraft like the X-37B are eyed for their potential to safeguard national interests. The US Military has been breaking decades of silence on the X-37B in the past months.
The US Naval Research Laboratory NRL is using the spacecraft to transform solar power into radiofrequency microwave energy to then transmit it to the ground, an idea which the government of the UK is also working on through their national space strategy. The X-37B also put into orbit a FalconSAT-8 carrying 5 experiments in its payload. Additionally, and for undisclosed reasons, the US military is also working to understand the effects of radiation on seeds to grow food in space. Delta 9 of the US Space Force, which is running the operation, says their mission is to “prepare forces to protect and defend” and to provide authorities with options to “deter and, when necessary, defeat orbital threats."
Mission number six of the space drone X-37B broke the 500 days in orbit mark. The spacecraft blasted off into space on an Atlas V-501 rocket in May 2020, but its configuration allows it to ride on a SpaceX Falcon rocket as well. Its adaptability and reentry powers that allow it to roll in hot on the tarmac not only give the spacecraft a familiar NASA-Shuttle-look but allows it to carry experiments into a lower orbit and return them to Earth, as well as executing rapid deployments and versatile missions. The X-37B can dock and undock with service modules or satellites and carry payloads and crafts to space.
More Than Just A Show
The primary missions of the X-37B are classified. Media have speculated that the spacecraft is a warfare-oriented military plane capable of spying and may even be weaponized, but those are claims which the Pentagon has denied. As satellite traffic and tensions between China, the US, and Russia increase over satellite warfare, and the US military role in space increases, unmanned spacecraft like the X-37B are eyed for their potential to safeguard national interests. The US Military has been breaking decades of silence on the X-37B in the past months.
The US Naval Research Laboratory NRL is using the spacecraft to transform solar power into radiofrequency microwave energy to then transmit it to the ground, an idea which the government of the UK is also working on through their national space strategy. The X-37B also put into orbit a FalconSAT-8 carrying 5 experiments in its payload. Additionally, and for undisclosed reasons, the US military is also working to understand the effects of radiation on seeds to grow food in space. Delta 9 of the US Space Force, which is running the operation, says their mission is to “prepare forces to protect and defend” and to provide authorities with options to “deter and, when necessary, defeat orbital threats."