A secretive space drone just broke its own orbit record, and almost no one knows what it’s doing - Air Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 4 on May 7, 2017.jpg

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...hat-its-doing/

The X-37B — the Air Force’s ultra-secretive, astronaut-free spacecraft that
looks like a miniaturized space shuttle — just broke its own flight record of
719 days in continuous orbit.

What, exactly, the experimental spacecraft has been doing for almost exactly two
years straight has puzzled analysts who can only speculate about the Pentagon’s
ambitions over the low-orbit vehicle.

The Air Force has said, “The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold:
reusable spacecraft technologies for America’s future in space and operating
experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth.”

Pretty clear, right?

In September 2017, defense officials said the X-37B’s mission — its fifth since
2010 — would demonstrate the potential for getting to space quickly and
“on-orbit testing of emerging space technologies” while testing experimental
electronics in zero gravity.

Its playground is an important one, and may provide clues to the spacecraft’s
true mission and what payload it may carry. Low Earth orbit is where the
International Space Station circumnavigates the planet, and where many military
and commercial satellites are situated.

As future conflict increasingly has a dimension in space, war outside our
atmosphere could be focused on killing vital surveillance and navigational
satellites to give terrestrial armies an advantage.

Scaling down big, unwieldy satellites to smaller, equally capable satellites to
get lower in orbit makes a lot of sense when you need higher resolution images
of, say, missile launch sites in North Korea or Chinese operations in contested
areas of the South China Sea.

Lower orbit requires more maneuverability, which means more fuel, Air and Space
magazine reported. And the X-37B is using Hall thrusters that use an electric
field to accelerate xenon propellant, which means more intricate movements can
be done without relying on a lot of fuel on board.

That application would be prized on reconnaissance satellites that need to stay
low for years, the magazine reported.

The X-37B, a diminutive spacecraft with less than a 15-foot wingspan, has been
the subject of intense speculation since its initial mission in 2010. And the
Air Force has relied on SpaceX to get it to space. In 2017, the company launched
the spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

Air Force officials have been notoriously tight-lipped about the capabilities
and mission of the classified X-37B program, and typically have dumped laundry
lists of densely worded objectives onto reporters and analysts.

“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, advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials and autonomous orbital
flight, reentry and landing,” Air Force spokesman Maj. William A. Russell said
in a statement.

Officials have touted the spacecraft’s ability to get experiments back to Earth.
That was possible with NASA’s Shuttle Orbiter, Russell said. But the X-37B’s
stamina means it can stay in space much longer.

“There are no other space platforms providing the performance and flexibilities
to advance technologies in a way that allows the scientists and engineers to
recover their experiments,” Russell said.

The X-37B is clearly state of the art while up in space. But on the Earth, it
gets around a little more modestly.

In 2017, when the previous mission’s spacecraft landed, the Air Force released
some of the few public images of the X-37B.

The photos showed the secret vehicle guided by a particular land-propulsion
system — a white Chevrolet pickup.




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