X-37B Milestones

[CougarKing]

Wow.

http://www.space.com/news/090602-x-37b-space-plane.html

U.S. Air Force Aims to Launch Space Plane Next Year
By Leonard David
SPACE.com’s Space Insider Columnist
posted: 02 June 2009
08:27 pm ET

It has been a long haul to the launch pad, but the U.S. Air Force and Boeing are gearing up to loft the X-37B – an unpiloted military space plane, SPACE.com has learned.

Tucked inside the shroud of an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), the winged craft will be boosted out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, orbit the Earth and then make an auto-pilot landing in California.

The X-37B OTV-1 (Orbital Test Vehicle 1) is currently on the launch manifest for January 2010, explained U.S. Air Force Captain Elizabeth Aptekar, who works in media operations for the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.

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[CougarKing]

 

[MarkOttawa]

Take two--what's it for (note webcasts)?

Space plane and its secret payload set for launch
The 29-foot-long experimental spacecraft is slated to launch Friday from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The craft has piqued the interest of Russia and China.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-space-plane-20110304,0,2891507.story

An experimental robotic space plane developed for the Air Force is slated to launch Friday from Cape Canaveral, fueling an ongoing mystery about its hush-hush payload and overall mission.

Watching the pilotless spacecraft along with the Pentagon will also be wary Russian and Chinese military officials who have raised questions about U.S. intentions since the government launched its first version of the secret plane into orbit almost a year ago.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle looks like a miniature version of the space shuttle. Because of its clandestine nature, some industry analysts have theorized it could be a precursor to an orbiting weapon, capable of dropping bombs or disabling foreign satellites as it circles the globe.

"It's a mystery, because the Air Force is being so closed-mouthed about the program," said Brian Weeden, a former Air Force officer and expert in space security. "It leads people to say, 'What exactly are they hiding?'"

Air Force officials have offered few details beyond saying the experimental space plane provides a way to test new technologies in outer space, such as satellite sensors and other components.

"It's a classified mission," said Maj. Tracy A. Bunko, an Air Force spokeswoman. The spacecraft will be carrying "reusable technologies for America's future in space and operating experiments, which can then be returned to and examined on Earth."

The first X-37B was launched from the Cape last April, and 224 days later it landed on its own — fully automated — on a 15,000-foot-long airstrip at Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara. The plane being launched this week is also expected to land there sometime late this year.

The space plane was built in tight secrecy by Boeing Co.'s Space and Intelligence Systems unit in Huntington Beach. Engineering work was done at the company's facilities in Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. Other components were kicked in from its satellite-making plant in El Segundo...

Most U.S. military analysts are increasingly skeptical that the plane — in its current form — is a space bomber or satellite hunter.

"That's highly unlikely," said Weeden, the former Air Force officer who now works at the Secure World Foundation, a Colorado-based space policy group. "At this point, it is an experimental plane. The technology may develop into something bigger — that's the nature of experimental planes — but it's just a test bed now."..

"It's all very puzzling," said Laura Grego, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Mass. "The only unique capability of a space plane appears to be its ability to return from orbit and land autonomously on a runway."

The X-37B's launch from Cape Canaveral is to be webcast, starting at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, at http://www.ulalaunch.com. It will also be available on http://www.latimes.com [emphasis added].

Mark
Ottawa

 

[lucciano-malke]

Inside the Air Force's Secret Mission X-37B Space Plane

After nearly seven months of flight, the U.S. Air Force's latest X-37 robotic space plane is nearing a milestone in its secret mission in Earth orbit as it chalks up mileage and operational experience.

As of last week, the reusable X-37B space plane had been in orbit for more than 206 days, two months shy of its 270-day mission design lifetime. The spacecraft, which looks like a miniature space shuttle, launched on its clandestine mission on March 5 from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

http://www.xairforces.net/newsd.asp?newsid=558&newst=7

 

[tomahawk6]

The U.S. Air Force's secretive X-37B space plane program has passed another milestone: Its latest mission marked one year in orbit this week.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-air-force-39-mysterious-x-37b-space-131521988.html

 

[CombatDoc]

Good link, thank you.

 

[CougarKing]

An update:

Reuters

Quote:

Secretive U.S. robotic mini-shuttle to end 22-month mission on Tuesday

CAPE CANAVERAL Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. military plans to land its secretive X-37B robotic space plane in California on Tuesday, ending a classified 22-month mission, officials said.

The exact time and date will depend on weather and technical factors, the Air Force said in a statement released on Friday. The X-37B space plane, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, blasted off for its second mission aboard an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Dec. 11, 2012.

The 29-foot-long (9-meter) robotic spaceship, which resembles a miniature space shuttle, is an experimental vehicle that first flew in April 2010. It returned after eight months. A second vehicle blasted off in March 2011 and stayed in orbit for 15 months.

The military has said the vehicles, built by Boeing, are designed to test technologies, though details of the missions are classified.

(...SNIPPED)