X-37B To Fly Again

schwit1 writes The May 6 Atlas 5 launch will carry one of the Air Force's two X-37B mini-shuttles on a new mission in space. "The Air Force won't yet confirm which of the Boeing-built spaceplanes will be making the voyage. The first craft returned in October from a 675-day mission in space following a 224 day trek in 2010. OTV No. 2 spent 469 days in space in 2011-2012 on its only mission so far. "The program selects the Orbital Test Vehicle for each activity based upon the experiment objectives," said Capt. Chris Hoyler, an Air Force spokesperson. "Each OTV mission builds upon previous on-orbit demonstrations and expands the test envelope of the vehicle. The test mission furthers the development of the concept of operations for reusable space vehicles." There are indications that the Air Force wants to attempt landing the shuttle at Kennedy this time.

Comments

No real mystery here

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, this is way over blown as a mystery. The Air Force obviously is using this craft as a more flexible spying device. Whereas satellites generally have a pre defined orbit. I imagine the X37B can change orbit on cue and monitor hot spots around the world. I doubt highly it has any more abilities then that. Given the issues with gathering intelligence on the ground in some areas like Iran. Its no surprise that the military is looking for ways to gain access to Countries who may be more difficult to infiltrate on the ground. The X37B is a obvious choice given that it can sustain itself for a long time in space. Plus it can return to Earth to be upgraded and refreshed. Truly a spy craft that is very efficient.

Re:More opportunities for amateur observation.

[bobbied]

The 'classified' orbits of previous missions have been tracked by many amateur astronomers.

It is extremely hard to hide something the size of a pickup truck in orbit no matter what you try to do. The major problem being that there is a very limited amount of sky you can get the object into when you launch from a specific place at a specific time and launches are pretty obvious things. Plus, it takes a lot of energy to make significant changes in orbit if you want to do it over a short time so the people tracking you won't know where to look anymore. I's not that all of these challenges are impossible, it's just that they are expensive to do.

Makes you wonder though, what we don't actually know about. Something tells me that the Air force has assets in space that are not being tracked by anybody. Surely they have worked on stealth for satellites and have delivery systems that can throw stuff up there without much public notice.

Re:More opportunities for amateur observation.

[stealth_finger]

Makes you wonder though, what we don't actually know about. Something tells me that the Air force has assets in space that are not being tracked by anybody. Surely they have worked on stealth for satellites and have delivery systems that can throw stuff up there without much public notice.

Even with eyes on this thing who's going to notice when it opens it's door a bit and a few cubesats float out. I'm thinking they already have their stealth delivery system at least.