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Amateurs Spy On US Spy Plane
arshadk writes with this excerpt from Wired's Danger Room: "The X-37B has generated intense interest, long before it ever left the ground. Boeing originally developed the 29-foot unmanned craft — a kind of miniature Space Shuttle — for NASA. Then, the military took over in 2004, and the space plane went black. Its payloads were classified, its missions hush-hush. ... You can even see the space plane for yourself: The X-37B is traveling in a slightly elliptical orbit more than 200 miles up, swooping from 43 degrees north latitude to 43 degrees south."
Is that just three sentences copypasted at random, with no attempt whatsoever made to explain what this article is about, or what?
An article a little while back published its secret launch date
There is no plane, there never was a plane, and if you see anything in the sky, it's a weather balloon.
What's wrong with the editors in this place? Too much work?
I don't have a sig.
The typical spy satellite has a polar orbit...
...The X-37B, on the other hand, is orbiting around the fat middle of the plane...
...The orbit lends credence to the idea that the space plane is an orbiting spy.
Just sayin'
http://www.heavens-above.com/
Enter your coordinates (requires a login, otherwise it's 0 degrees N / 0 degrees E) and look for the X-37B link under "Satellites".
29-foot
To 95% of world's population: that's 8.83m.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Don't you find it depressing that it seems to be so easy for the military to send stuff into space on a routine basis? NASA can't even come up with a replacement for the space shuttle.
Of course there are other things which seem so much easier for the military (like sending what are basically space telescopes when the scientific community have to share just a few).
If the US Military wants to not be seen, they can do it. This is probably some object they put up their for the enemy to track. They are very good at what they do!
There is no such thing as stealth in space.
Maybe the vehicle itself is merely a diversion for some payload released earlier? If some pico-satellites were released early in the mission would these be easily trackable with optical telescopes?
The X-37B is partially classified. It is not anywhere near secret. There is a huge difference.
Classified projects are frequently used for promotion and propaganda. Secret projects are actually kept secret.
Looks like the current orbit will take it right over Tripoli.
http://www.n2yo.com/?s=37375
yes, yes, that's interesting but what we really want to know is when it will become self aware and start killing humans?
"I think this line is mostly filler"
How about making it a Mars lander, you've had so much success with that the last time you went all giddy about this.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24049
Was I the only one who initially missed the S, and thought the headline was, "Amateur Spy On US Spy Plane" ?
Clearly that spy can't be considered a green-horn anymore; Getting a seat on an unmanned space flight is no small feat!
It's amazing what you can do when you've got an object in space that you can set up with minimal overhead. I mean, hey, its not like those big expensive spy satellites have a limited fuel or anything. Sure, Libya had always been kind of a nuisance, but I assume there weren't that many spy satellites within range before. One of the features of this thing was that it had oversized engines for what it was, meaning it could make drastic orbit changes at short notice. Anyone know how long its been in this orbit over Libya?
It's been speculated (more assumption...) that the X-37B could be a test platform for new surveillance equipment. Could be they have some new cameras with some awesome resolution to test out. Might be some kind of new sensors, or maybe some kind of a mirror or laser communication relay, to bounce a signal for someone covert down in Tripoli. For all we know, it could be some crazy new concept we won't hear about for another 20 years.
Anyone know if its orbit brings it within close proximity of any other satellites? Some people have said it could be used to interfere with the satellites from other countries. Maybe, its secretly plotting to activate SkyNet in conjunction with another satellite that recently went up and we have no idea what its doing..
Or, for all we know, its just a camera, the same one they've been using on the other spy satellites for years. Just one that has lots of fuel, and thus, lots of orbit changes before coming down to be refueled and given newer tech cameras.
The world may never know. Or may already know, and just not know it.
One of these days i'm going to find this 'peer' guy and reset HIS connection!
I doubt they sent it up just to look down on Libya. The US can do that with normal manned aircraft and UAVs because of the UN resolution establishing the NATO no fly zone. I think the expense of launching and recovering a spy satellite only makes sense when it is not possible to send an aircraft overhead (violating a sovereign country's airspace) and the observations cannot be obtained by other airborne standoff sensors.
As for secrecy, nothing can be kept absolutely secret once it leaves the development lab. This includes the stealth aircraft, etc. Any real-world use will result in observation. The US could use various cover stories to try to confuse observations and preserve some degree of secrecy though. For example in the '60s with the Aurora spy satellites, the NASA had an elaborate biological program to send up small animals and study the effects of space travel. The biologists in the program had no idea that they were part of an elaborate cover story. Prior to launch, the biological payload would be replaced by a camera payload. The satellite would fly its mission and be recovered and the animals returned to the biologists for study. The only reason we know it was a cover story is the CIA declassified the program after the end of the cold war.
It might be possible the flight path over Libya and the middle east is a cover story and the satellite contains payload for some other form of observation in the other direction, such as to gather intelligence on Chinese or Russian spy satellites which would have a similar orbit to observe the US. I have no knowledge one way or another, this is just my little thought experiment.
As there are a lot of guys with guns on the ground, I think I'll pass on floating above them, thank you very much.
Yes, I know you can shoot a hot air balloon without it being severely impacted (there is a big hole in the bottom anyway) but I myself, or the propane tanks, are not so invulnerable.
As usual, quite some non-sense appears in some of the comments here about the orbit of the X-37B and it's "manoeuverability"
First: in terms of reconnaissance opportunities, a 43 degree orbit gives you no edge over a polar orbit. On the contrary, while a polar orbit brings any latitude within reach for reconnaissance, a 43 degree orbit does not as latitudes above 43 degree are less well covered (and far North or south latitudes aren't covered at all).
Note that for targets below 43 degree latitude, it really doesn't matter whether the satellite is in a 43 degree, 63 degree or 90 degree (polar) inclination orbit: all these orbits will bring such a target in reach, and the 43 degree orbit has no extra benefit compared to a 63 or 90 degree orbit.
So it is nonsense to think that the 43 degree inclination orbit has been chosen to have a "better" look on a target near 43 degree latitude. A 90 degree inclination orbit would cover such as target just as good.
Instead, the 43 degree inclination has probably been chosen to maximize coverage of the X-37B orbit by US tracking and control facilities. So, a very prozaic explanation connected to the experimental nature of the craft, and the fact that it frequently re-boosts (it has to: it is in a low orbit and hence subject to quick decay).
Another frequent non-sensical remark about the X-37B is that it supposedly would be "more manoeuverable" than the typical reconnaissance satellite: and somehow able to "quickly get over a target" if necessary. Again, this is a wrong view on how orbital dynamics and the dynamics of target coverage work. The X37-B might have wings and behave like an airplane in the atmosphere near landing: but in space, it is just a satellite subject to the same orbital laws as any other satellite. Like any satellite, it will cover any target within reach of the orbital inclination at least twice a day. And you just don't "steer" a spaceship to a target within an hour: it is not similar to flying an airplane (unlike suggestions in Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars). You change the orbital period and/or inclination and this determines when and how the satellite (X37-B in this case: but it is the same for any other satellite) will encounter a target, about twice a day.
Please note that, contrary to assumptions to the contrary often made, regular reconnaissance satellites like the Keyholes and Lacrosses frequently manoeuvre as well. They have to, to maintain their orbital constellation. Nothwithstanding this frequent manoeuvring (they do so multiple times a year) they stay operational for many, many years (Lacrosse 2 was finally de-orbited last week after being operational for 20 years, with very frequent manoeuvering during those 20 years). So the X37-B doesn't really have an edge in sense of "manoeuverability" over any other satellite, contrary to what many people seem to think. The frequent manoeuvres the craft makes are manoeuvres to maintain orbital altitude, and this has to do with the low orbit (= high drag, high decay) the craft is in. It are not manoeuvres to change the orbit to quickly target new targets. That idea, is simply wrong and originates with people who have no clue about orbital dynamics in space.
The only real edge the X-37B has over other satellites is that it enables you to sent up and then retrieve payloads. For the rest, it cannot do more than any conventional satellite can do.
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse
The Crossbow Project. There's No Defense Like a Good Offense
End of line..
Some data to show that the X37-B OTV-2 coverage of Tripoli is really not that much better than that of the "conventional" Keyhole optical and Lacrosse radar reconnaissance satellites:
Number of passes of US Reconnaissance satellites bringing Tripoli within sensor range for April 3rd, 2011:
KH-12 Keyhole high-res optical satellites:
(97 degree inclination Polar orbit)
USA 186: 5 passes
USA 161: 3 passes
USA 129: 5 passes
Lacrosse high-res SAR satellites:
(50 & 57 degree inclination orbits)
Lacrosse 3: 8 passes
Lacrosse 4: 6 passes
Lacrosse 5: 7 passes
As you see, not quite a shortage of coverage.
The X37-B OTV-2 passes over Tripoli as well:
(43 degree inclination orbit)
X-37B OTV-2: 7 passes
Lacrosses with their orbital inclination of 50/57 degrees make as much passes per day as the X-37B with it's 43 degree orbital inclination. There really is no reason to think that the choosen inclination has anything to do with optimizing Libya coverage. The more so since the previous X-37B mission, which was before the Libya revolution started, also had an orbital inclination near 40 degrees.
As I mentioned in another comment, the choosen inclination most likely has to do with optimizing coverage by the US tracking facilities.
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse
or does that secret space plane look like Thunderbird 2?
Picture of X-40A in an article on an X-37B launch?! :)
http://citynewspost.com/x-37b-launch-delay-due-to-bad-weather/855019/
I doubt if that was the intention...