The X-37B is in orbit by 600 days, but part of its mission is covered by military secrecy. Launched from an Atlas V rocket the 20 May of the 2015 from the Launch Complex 41, to Cape Canaveral, the exact payload carried on board remains unknown.
The X-37B is a test bed for testing new technologies, designed to orbit the earth. According to official Boeing data, the X-37B operates in the low earth orbit, between the 177 and the 800 kilometers above the planet. The International Space Station orbits about 350km.
The X-37B is a quarter-size reusable platform the size of a standard NASA shuttle. In the previous mission, it remained in orbit for 675 days.
In the 2015, the Department of Defense revealed some details about X-37B missions. According to the Air Force, the platform is testing experimental propulsion systems, such as the electrical one and the durability of various materials in the space environment. The advantage of using electric propulsion is obvious, considering that xenon weighs much less than traditional hydrazine. However, such experiments and tests represent only a fraction of the missions conducted by the X-37B. Probably, the platform is part of a specific asset of the National Reconaissance Office. The NRO mission is to design, build, launch and maintain US intelligence satellites. These are the only information available, the rest is classified.
The X-37B is a drone carried in orbit by a rocket, but it lands like a normal plane. Its dimensions do not allow to transport any human operator on board, but it has a load compartment just enough to carry a small satellite. It has a wingspan of 4,6 meters and at the time of the launch it weighs 4,990kg. Program X serves US federal agencies.
The first official mission was launched in the 2010 April and ended in December of the same year. The second took place from the 2011 March to the 2012 June. The Air Force would conduct at least three covert operations with the X-37B platform.
Once the mission is complete, probably by the end of the year, the X-37B will land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The former structure used for the launch of the shuttle is managed with the Air Force which will have the task of recovering, restructuring and preparing the platform for the next mission.
(photo: Boeing)
