US military’s X-37B space plane lands, ending record-breaking mystery mission

November 12, 2022

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The record-breaking sixth mission of the U.S. navy’s X-37B space airplane is lastly over.

The robotic X-37B touched down at NASA’s Kennedy House Heart (KSC) in Florida as we speak (Nov. 12) at 5:22 a.m. EST (1022 GMT). The winged car had spent 908 days in orbit — greater than 4 months longer than any earlier X-37B flight.

The Boeing-built space airplane additionally carried a service module on the newly accomplished mission, a primary for the U.S. Space Force‘s X-37B program.

“With the service module added, this was probably the most we have ever carried to orbit on the X-37B, and we’re proud to have been in a position to show out this new and versatile functionality for the federal government and its trade companions,” Jim Chilton, senior vp at Boeing House and Launch, said in a statement today (opens in new tab).

Associated: The US Space Force’s secretive X-37B space plane: 10 surprising facts

Technicians work with the lately landed robotic X-37B space airplane at NASA’s Kennedy House Heart in Florida on Nov. 12, 2022. (Picture credit score: Boeing/US House Pressure)

The X-37B resembles NASA’s now-retired space shuttle however is far smaller, measuring simply 29 ft (8.8 meters) from nostril to tail. The space shuttle was 122 ft (37 m) lengthy and was piloted — one other key distinction, because the X-37B is autonomous.

The U.S. House Pressure is assumed to personal two X-37B autos, each of which have been supplied by Boeing. So far, the duo has flown six orbital missions, every of which is thought by the signifier OTV (“Orbital Check Automobile”):

OTV-1: Launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on Dec. 3, 2010 (length 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: Could 20, 2015 to Could 7, 2015 (718 days).
OTV-5: Sept. 7, 2017 to Oct. 27, 2019 (780 days).
OTV-6: Could 17, 2020 to Nov. 12, 2022 (908 days).

House Pressure and Boeing describe the X-37B as mainly a testing platform; the car permits researchers to see how payloads work within the space atmosphere after which study them afterward on the bottom.

“Because the X-37B’s first launch in 2010, it has shattered information and supplied our nation with an unequalled functionality to quickly take a look at and combine new space applied sciences,” Chilton mentioned.

Many of those payloads are categorized, as are many of the X-37B’s actions; the House Pressure does not announce particulars of the car’s orbit, for instance, or inform us upfront when every OTV mission goes to finish.

However navy officers do reveal details about a number of the {hardware} the X-37B totes aloft. For instance, we all know that OTV-6 examined the U.S. Naval Analysis Laboratory’s Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module. This system, in regards to the dimension of a pizza field, is designed to transform solar vitality into microwaves, which may then be beamed all the way down to Earth. Its work may assist convey space-based solar energy nearer to actuality, experiment crew members have mentioned.

OTV-6 additionally carried FalconSat-8, a satellite designed by cadets on the U.S. Air Pressure Academy that carries 5 experimental payloads of its personal. The X-37B deployed FalconSat-8 in October 2021, and the satellite stays in orbit as we speak, Boeing representatives mentioned in as we speak’s assertion.

OTV-6 carried a number of recognized NASA experiments as effectively. One examined how space radiation impacts plant seeds, and one other gauged how numerous supplies reply to the space atmosphere.

“This mission highlights the House Pressure’s deal with collaboration in space exploration and increasing low-cost entry to space for our companions, inside and out of doors of the Division of the Air Pressure,” Gen. Likelihood Saltzman, the House Pressure’s chief of space operations, mentioned in the identical assertion. (The House Pressure is a part of the U.S. Air Pressure, a lot because the Marine Corps is a part of the Navy.)

Whereas OTV-6 set a brand new mission-duration document for the X-37B program, it did not come near the general spaceflight mark.

Some Earth-observation and communications satellites function in Earth orbit for a decade or extra, for instance. The International Space Station has been constantly occupied by rotating astronaut crews since November 2000, and NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes stay operational in interstellar space greater than 45 years after lifting off.

Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide in regards to the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).