Is it the Pentagon’s secret weapon? Is it stealth? Will it even get close to artificial satellites? What exactly does it do in space? And why has it been there for so long?
The Pentagon won’t tell. And the veil of secrecy surrounding the X-37B continues ahead of the launch of its seventh mission Sunday at 8:14 p.m. ET. But this time, there are at least some clues that something is different.
The empty drone will be launched for the first time on SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy, which is more powerful than previous rockets. This has led to speculation that the mission may be in a much higher orbit, and that appears to be the case. recent documents. SpaceX has been awarded a $130 million contract for a 2018 launch.
Still, it’s still unclear what it does in its higher orbit.
The mission has “broad test and experiment objectives,” the Pentagon said. official statement. “These tests include operating reusable spaceplanes in new orbital regimes and experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies.”
References to “space domain awareness” could mean monitoring other satellites and potentially threats. Gaining a better understanding of what’s going on in the vast expanse of space — where enemy spacecraft are and what they’re doing — is a key mission for the U.S. Space Force. “Our nation’s space systems are threatened by a growing variety of anti-satellite capabilities, and the Joint Force is facing an increasing number of anti-satellite capabilities aimed at targeting the Joint Force,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force Director of Space Operations. “We are threatened by increasingly sophisticated enemy space systems.”in Statement to Congress earlier this year.
At least part of the mission is known. The spacecraft will be a NASA experiment that will “expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight.” In the past, the Pentagon has also used the X-37B to test some of its cutting-edge technologies, such as small solar panels designed to convert solar energy into microwaves. This technology could one day make it possible to beam back energy harnessed in space. To the earth.
The Boeing X-37B was also used to deploy small satellites, but what they did was a mystery.
Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, a think tank, said: “The U.S. government is in this strange place, bragging publicly about how great and cutting-edge it is, but there’s no information about it.” I’m not going to offer anything at all,” he said. .
He said much of the speculation about the vehicle is probably wrong. For now, its reputation is tied primarily to “its mystique,” he said, but it seems clear it’s “doing something that the Pentagon feels is very important.”
Having said that, “The feasibility of an orbital weapon system to attack ground targets is almost zero,” says Secure World. stated in the fact sheet About the program. Supposedly, this equipment is being used for the purpose the Department of Defense says it is being used for: “testing reusable space launch vehicle technologies (such as guidance and thermal protection), and developing new sensor technologies for risk mitigation.” “In-orbit testing of satellite hardware,” according to Secure World.
That hasn’t stopped other countries, especially China, from pointing to the X-37B as an example of America’s space weaponization. “They can’t stop talking about this being a weapon and a symbol of American supremacy in space,” Weeden said.
China also secretly owns a reusable spaceplane, the Shenlong, which has flown two missions so far. The last one landed in May after spending 276 days in orbit. Like the X-37B, it is highly classified and no photos have been released. But it seems to be taking inspiration from its American cousin, Weeden said. China’s thinking is, “If Americans think it’s important, maybe we should invest in this, too,” Weeden said.
If Sunday’s X-37B mission is anything like previous ones, the spaceplane could remain in space for some time. The first flight, launched in 2010, lasted 224 days. Since then, each mission has been longer, and when it touched down at Cape Canaveral after its final flight in November 2022, it remained in orbit for 908 days. In total, the spaceplane he spent more than 10 years in space. This allowed the Department of Defense to obtain all kinds of data about how different components perform in space over long periods of time.
“For many years, this has been a remarkable testbed and experimental vehicle,” Gen. David Thompson, the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations, said at a forum earlier this year. “What I’m saying is, we’re still starting to see some of the exciting things we have planned for his X-37.”
