After 908 Days in Orbit, US Military's X-37B Space Plane Finally Lands (space.com) 25
After 908 days in orbit, the U.S. military's X-37B space plane finally touched down today in Florida, reports Space.com.
And "the Boeing-built space plane also carried a service module on the newly completed mission, a first for the U.S. Space Force's X-37B program." "With the service module added, this was the most we've ever carried to orbit on the X-37B, and we're proud to have been able to prove out this new and flexible capability for the government and its industry partners," Jim Chilton, senior vice president at Boeing Space and Launch, said in a statement today.
The X-37B resembles NASA's now-retired space shuttle but is much smaller, measuring just 29 feet (8.8 meters) from nose to tail. The space shuttle was 122 feet (37 m) long and was piloted — another key difference, as the X-37B is autonomous.
The U.S. Space Force is thought to own two X-37B vehicles, both of which were provided by Boeing. To date, the duo has flown six orbital missions, each of which is known by the signifier OTV ("Orbital Test Vehicle"):
OTV-1: Launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on Dec. 3, 2010 (duration 224 days).
OTV-2: March 5, 2011 to June 16, 2012 (468 days).
OTV-3: Dec. 11, 2012 to Oct. 17, 2014 (674 days).
OTV-4: May 20, 2015 to May 7, 2015 (718 days).
OTV-5: Sept. 7, 2017 to Oct. 27, 2019 (780 days).
OTV-6: May 17, 2020 to Nov. 12, 2022 (908 days).
And "the Boeing-built space plane also carried a service module on the newly completed mission, a first for the U.S. Space Force's X-37B program." "With the service module added, this was the most we've ever carried to orbit on the X-37B, and we're proud to have been able to prove out this new and flexible capability for the government and its industry partners," Jim Chilton, senior vice president at Boeing Space and Launch, said in a statement today.
The X-37B resembles NASA's now-retired space shuttle but is much smaller, measuring just 29 feet (8.8 meters) from nose to tail. The space shuttle was 122 feet (37 m) long and was piloted — another key difference, as the X-37B is autonomous.
The U.S. Space Force is thought to own two X-37B vehicles, both of which were provided by Boeing. To date, the duo has flown six orbital missions, each of which is known by the signifier OTV ("Orbital Test Vehicle"):
OTV-1: Launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on Dec. 3, 2010 (duration 224 days).
OTV-2: March 5, 2011 to June 16, 2012 (468 days).
OTV-3: Dec. 11, 2012 to Oct. 17, 2014 (674 days).
OTV-4: May 20, 2015 to May 7, 2015 (718 days).
OTV-5: Sept. 7, 2017 to Oct. 27, 2019 (780 days).
OTV-6: May 17, 2020 to Nov. 12, 2022 (908 days).
Finally (Score:1)
If you feel like you need to add "finally" to a headline - reconsider its value.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Finally (Score:4, Funny)
I'm just glad that Gilligan and the Professor figured out how to make ablative ceramic heat tiles out of coconuts.
Re:Finally (Score:4, Informative)
I thought the time span from May 17, 2020 to Nov. 12, 2022 was shorter than 908 days so I checked it. Sure enough, it was in orbit for 2 years, 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, or 908 days.
BTW, did you know the Windows Calculator has many built-in conversion functions like volume, weight, temperature, power, pressure, angular units, etc.? Just click the menu button in the upper-left corner and select the conversion choice, like Date Calculation.
But... (Score:1)
Re:But... (Score:4, Interesting)
The highest probability is that it temporarily captures and manipulates foreign spy satellites. A bit like the ROVs sent down to tap into underseas cables at extreme depths. (something which occurs pretty frequently nowadays)
Basically making something that was previously "secure due to being out of reach" insecure by being able to access it.
There are steps which a country can take with their satellites to make them resistant to this of course, but when pounds are millions of dollars, you don't send up stuff you don't think you need. Well, NOW you need it, so it's just going to be another facet of the Arms Race.
At some point in the future we're going to see the "unexplained loss" of one of these craft, and someone with their finger on the 'self destruct" button of their spy satellite is gonna be laughing.
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The highest probability is that it temporarily captures and manipulates foreign spy satellites.
Without a crew?
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Didn't you hear? Military drones are all the rage and there surely is need for something that could capture and retrieve satellites for examination or conduct sabotage. Maybe shooting a glaze on the solar panel, or frying the electronics. One generally doesn't want to create explosive debris in orbit, unless real chaos is the goal, but it could even be armed with satellite killers for high orbit use. Also, there is talk about space tugs which could boost orbits, refill propellent or garbage/hazard collecti
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Disabling a sat is one thing. Can be done with kinetic or other weapons and would be pretty obvious. If by 'manipulates' the poster meant swaps out compute modules or other complex modifications, there's no way this thing is smart or deleterious enough to do that.
Re: But... (Score:5, Funny)
Just a reminder: Glue the USB ports on your spy satellites closed before launching them
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HIghest probability? So you have been privy to the secret memos about this thing? Do tell? Or are you just running off at the fingers?
We don't know, and neither do you, regardless of your "probability".
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The highest probability is that it temporarily captures and manipulates foreign spy satellites.
Except that this would constitute an act of war, and any country with even the most rudimentary space situational awareness capabilities (probably less than $100,000 worth of equipment) would be able to tell something was getting near their satellites, and would raise a stink. Haven't heard a lot of accusations.
They're already telling us some of the experiments it's conducting, and it's not really a short list. I agree it's probably doing more than they tell us about, but I'm not going to jump to the most
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Most likely its current purpose is to test sensors and other compone
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Given the number of people looking at the sky, tracking spacecraft, that seems unlikely. They might be developing that capability by doing tests, but an actual approach to a Russian satellite would be noticed.
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But what did it actually do out there? Which unsuspecting countries/regions did it spy on? Or what real payload did it put up there.
I'm expecting fewer new UFO stories until they launch again.
Seems like a good SpaceX customer to me (Score:2)
I haven't followed this topic much, but from the looks of it they can launch with either an Atlas 5 or a Falcon.
With these incredibly long mission times I wonder why they don't fly multiple vehicles at the same time. The development pace seems ... sleepy.
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They're only known to have two of them... maybe by keeping one on the ground they can maximize checkout of everything pre-launch. /Rushing things to launch is usually not a good idea.
And boy are its arms tired... (Score:1)
- Remember to tip your waitress...
It's secret mission fulfilled ? (Score:2)
business class flights to Gothenburg (Score:1)