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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.
Have gnu, will travel.
"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.
"the vehicle is simply testing technologies on orbit" -- why is it so secret, then?
-- why is it so secret, then?
The Air Force is just protecting their IP . . . they are worried that Über will hire away one of the Air Force's colonels with stolen design materials, and offer a competing Secret Space Plane Service, that can be hailed with an App!
Actually, the really secret news, is that, although the Secret Space plane took off unmanned, . . . it landed with three passengers!
The "guests" will be working on the Air Force's super secret Götterdämmerung project, which is being developed at the follow-on virtual site to Area 51. The virtual site is not in one place, but uses advanced distributed technology, based on Git, Blockchain and BitTorrent in an Internet of Things. If one node of the virtual site gets destroyed by Russian Hackers, the other nodes can recreate the work of node.
The Air Force stated that the purpose Götterdämmerung is "no what you think it is", and that they also have no idea what you think.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
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!
Like the F-35.
But with the F-35, it is the Marines, not the USAF, that are ruining it.
The V/STOL capability has required a lot of compromises in other capabilities.
Actually it was launched to temporarily replace two of the mind control satellites, which had been put out of action by collisions with space debris. The new replacements were launched from the government's secret facility in Dwaynesville, PA. Unfortunately there was a brief interruption of service in late 2016, around November 8, but there don't seem to have been any major consequences.
Grab your pacifier and head for your safe space, it'll all be OK.
Space is not safe. Apart from not having any air to breathe it is really hot and cold at the same time. Also stuff is fast and if it hits you it hurts. There are these invisible wells full of gravity which tend to suck.
In safe space nobody can hear you scream 'SAFETY'
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Yeah, or to put it another way, "What do you think a secret phase conjugate tracking system is for?"
One obvious stepping stone towards weaponizing space would be developing advanced surveillance and precision tracking technology, and experimenting with it without actually building the weapon part. After all, once you build the weapon and use it, you're committed. Everybody knows you have it, and if the outcry is too strong, you've lost the PR war, and you're never going to get money for new R&D. So it makes sense to limit your laser testing to labs (because location doesn't matter much for that), and test only the tracking/optics in a real-world environment until you get that part exactly right, then merge the two after you have all the key pieces for your superweapon.
I'm not saying they're doing this, because how would I know, but that's certainly what I'd do if I wanted to pull a fast one on the general public. Just saying.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Remote tracking from earth, or advanced software that lets someone on the ground say "shoot that", and who can prove it wasn't random space junk that took out that satellite.
Anyone who tracks pieces of space junk, I would think.
Look at this device in context. China, Russia and the US are all working on hypersonic weapons. With such a weapon, you could potentially strike any point on the Earth within an hour, combining the global reach of an ICBM and the precision terminal guidance of a smart bomb, without the political ... well, fallout you'd get from the brute force of a nuclear strike.
You obviously could weaponize a space drone, but once you'd actually used it the cat would be out of the bag. Everyone would know you're stationing weapons in space, so next time there's a chance of a conflict all your space assets are a target, which of course is especially bad for the country with the most space assets. Oh, don't get me wrong. You'd surely keep your options open, probably even discreetly study the problem, especially in an cost-is-no-object procurement atmosphere.
But the thing that a military who's increasingly emphasizing precision from afar needs most is to know is the right chimney to drop the bomb down. So while I wouldn't be surprised if the program did have some space-based weapons goals, I'd be really surprised if it didn't have intelligence-gathering goals.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
"Nawww, the spaceplane isn't a weapon
In unrelated news, police and firefighters were called to the scene of a house bursting with popcorn early this morning. Homeowner Jerry Hathaway was unavailable for comment.
Uh, no.
Space.com is owned by the Purch Group, which is an American media company based in New York.