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After Almost Two Years, The Air Force's Mysterious X-37B Space Plane Lands (space.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Space.com:
The record-shattering mission of the U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane is finally over. After circling Earth for an unprecedented 718 days, the X-37B touched down Sunday at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida -- the first landing at the SLF since the final space shuttle mission came back to Earth in July 2011... The just-ended mission, known as OTV-4 (Orbital Test Vehicle-4), was the fourth for the X-37B program... The 29-foot-long (8.8 meters) X-37B looks like NASA's now-retired space shuttle orbiter, only much smaller; indeed, two X-37Bs could fit inside a space shuttle's cavernous payload bay...
Most of the X-37B's payloads and activities are classified, leading to some speculation that the space plane could be a weapon of some sort, perhaps a disabler of enemy satellites... But Air Force officials have always strongly refuted that notion, stressing that the vehicle is simply testing technologies on orbit. "Technologies being tested in the program include advanced guidance, navigation and control; thermal-protection systems; avionics; high-temperature structures and seals; conformal, reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems; and autonomous orbital flight, re-entry and landing," Captain AnnMarie Annicelli, an Air Force spokeswoman, told Space.com via email in March.
Most of the X-37B's payloads and activities are classified, leading to some speculation that the space plane could be a weapon of some sort, perhaps a disabler of enemy satellites... But Air Force officials have always strongly refuted that notion, stressing that the vehicle is simply testing technologies on orbit. "Technologies being tested in the program include advanced guidance, navigation and control; thermal-protection systems; avionics; high-temperature structures and seals; conformal, reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems; and autonomous orbital flight, re-entry and landing," Captain AnnMarie Annicelli, an Air Force spokeswoman, told Space.com via email in March.
"Nawww, the spaceplane isn't a weapon (which is technically true). What's in the cargo hold includes these experiments..."
Probably included bleeding edge spy electronics in actual service, the only reason for such an extended mission beyond exercising for stress test reasons new electron8cs and materials, which Nasa would have covered already in ongoing missions.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
well... using it as a weapon for two years before re-landing would seem odd, unless it is using an extremely light and small form of ammunition
Monkey-wrenching other satellites may be another purpose, but it would require phenomenal amounts of fuel to match orbit and approach a single satellite, much less many satellites
I am inclined to believe that it is an observation platform that can make up for weaknesses in our current surveillance satellites, which have well known orbits and periods of observation of certain areas.
just my 2 cents
The Air Force had their fingers deep in the Shuttle program - mostly to it's detriment. Cross-range landing capability, payload size and a host of other goals were stuffed into the project making it one of the largest human kludges ever designed.
Now they get to play with their own toys. If we're very nice, they might let NASA take a peek. But probably not. There are both valid reasons for keeping the military technologically ahead of the civilian space program and some institutional / paranoia reasons.
Hopefully everyone remembers enough of the Shuttle program to not try to make a one size fits all high technology vehicle.
Like the F-35.
Sigh.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Uh, no.
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