Defense One reports, “A U.S. X-37B space plane is slated to test a new way of rapidly changing its orbit, part of the Space Force’s quest for fuel-sipping maneuverability. The spacecraft will experiment with aerobraking, which uses Earth’s atmosphere to slow down and switch orbits. “The use of the aerobraking maneuver—a series of passes using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere—enables the spacecraft to change orbits while expending minimal fuel,” the service said in a release today.”
Full Story (Defense One)
Tag: USAF X-37B Space Plane
SpaceX Starship Booster Caught by Launch Gantry During Landing
Aviation Week reports, “A SpaceX Super Heavy booster flew itself back to its Boca Chica Beach, Texas, launchpad where it was caught by a pair of mechanical arms on the gantry 7 min. after liftoff, nailing one of the primary goals of the fifth Starship-Super Heavy integrated flight test (IFT-5).”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
More Info (AIAA Statement)
Space Force’s Secretive X-37B Space Plane Surpasses 1 Year in Orbit
SPACE reports, “In case you forgot it was still up there. That U.S. Space Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) has silently slipped past one-year of flight time. The craft is engaged in performing aerobrake maneuvers, a technique to alter its orbit around Earth, as well as safely dispose of its attached service module.
Full Story (SPACE)
USAF X-37B Space Plane Returns from 780 Days in Orbit
Reuters reports that the Department of Defense’s “secretive X-37B spaceplane landed in Florida on Sunday after a record-long orbital flight lasting more than two years, the U.S. Air Force said.” The spacecraft “touched down on an air strip at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:51 a.m. ET after spending 780 days orbiting Earth as the Air Force’s fifth flight mission under the Orbital Test Vehicle program, the Air Force said.” The unpiloted spaceplane, manufactured by The Boeing Company, “was sent into orbit in 2017 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, embarking on a mission managed by the Washington-based Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office to conduct various classified technology experiments in a long-duration space environment.” In a statement, United States Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett said, “The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane.” She added, “Each successive mission advances our nation’s space capabilities.”
Full Story (Reuters)
X-37B Lands at Kennedy Space Center after Spending 908 Days in Orbit
Aviation Week reported behind a paywall that the US Space Force “landed the X-37B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 12, completing a 908-day mission that set a new record for endurance while performing several classified and unclassified missions.” Space News reported that this was the “sixth mission of the crewless reusable plane, built by Boeing and jointly operated by the U.S. Space Force and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.” On this mission, the “X-37B carried several U.S. military and NASA science experiments, including a Naval Research Laboratory project to capture sunlight and convert it into direct current electrical energy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat-8, which remains in orbit. One of NASA’s experiments was the Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space. Scientists will use the data to understand the effects of the space environment on different types of materials. Another experiment was to investigate the effects of long-duration space exposure on seeds.”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Space News)
US Military’s X-37B Space Plane in Orbit for 900+ Days
SPACE reported, “The U.S. military’s X-37B robotic space plane just passed 900 days in orbit on its latest hush-hush mission, adding to the program’s flight-duration record.” The space plane launched in May 2020 and does not yet have a return date. The mission is the sixth of the X-37B; thus, it is known as Orbital Test Vehicle 6 (OTV-6) and is the first X-37B flight “to use a service module to host experiments.”
Full Story (SPACE)
X-37B Sets New Spaceflight Record
SPACE reports that as of Thursday, the X-37B uncrewed space plane “has been in Earth orbit for 781 days, breaking its previous record of 780. The reusable vehicle designed and built by Boeing is currently flying on its sixth mission, known as Orbital Test Vehicle-6 or OTV-6, which launched on May 17, 2020.” The X-37B’s current mission “includes several classified payloads, but some of its on-board experiments have been made public,” such as the US Naval Research Laboratory’s Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module (PRAM), the US Air Force Academy-designed FalconSat-8 satellite, and “two NASA experiments designed to test the effects of radiation on plant seeds and assess the effects of space on various materials.”
Full Story (SPACE)