At the end of 2023, the mysterious spacecraft of the US Armed Forces with the designation X-37B for his 7. Mission been brought into space. Since then it has been in orbit conducting tests. The US government has traditionally kept a low profile with information about the vehicle and its missions.
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A new one United States Space Force Announcement what the X-37B will do now. Accordingly, the aircraft will perform a “series of novel maneuvers, so-called Aerobrakingmaneuvers to change its orbit around the Earth,” as it is called.
Avoid space debris
This is intended to safely dispose of the service module components in accordance with space debris containment standards. The service module is payloadwhich is mounted on the tail of the unmanned, reusable spacecraft.
This first maneuver with the X-37B is a “incredibly important milestone for the United States Space Force“explains the general and Space Force chief Chance Saltzman. A new video about the X-37B was also published on Boeing’s YouTube channel:
Efficient maneuvering
Aerobraking allows the orbit to move with minimal fuel consumption be changed. After the maneuver, the X-37B is expected to resume its tests and experiments. What these are, however, remains secret. Once everything is complete, the aircraft will land back on Earth.
Mobility in orbit is currently one of the main focuses of Space Force experiments. Spacecraftbut also satellites, should be able to move more freely between different altitudes and orbits.
Small space shuttle
The spacecraft was originally designed by the NASA developed and now operated by Air Force and Space Force. It was built by Boeing.
Visually, the space plane is reminiscent of the iconic space shuttle Orbiterbut at the same time it is much smaller. That’s just how it is almost 9 meters long at a Wingspan of 4.6 meters. For comparison: the space shuttle’s orbiter was 37 meters long with a wingspan of 24 meters.
It is now the 7th mission of the X-37B. The length of the missions and the vague information from the Space Force about them always led to wild situations speculations. It was assumed, for example, that the X-37B would disrupt or even destroy enemy satellites is tested.
It was also considered whether the X-37B itself could have nanosatellites on board that it could secretly deploy. Another speculation is that with the spaceship military reconnaissance is being tested, for example with new radar or infrared sensors.
Chinas Pendant Shenlong
China is also involved Shenlong a comparable spaceship in use. There is also little information about this and much speculation that it is used for military purposes. Shenlong recently returned from his 3rd mission.
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What was carried out on the flight is unknown. Astronomers have noticed several times that the spacecraft is doing something rejected or exposed has. It was speculated that these were satellites. However, this has not been confirmed.
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The official Shenlong mission description includes this Testing reusable technologies and conducting scientific experiments. However, this is not discussed in more detail.
