29th successful launch of the year. USA. Military launch. "Space Plane" X-37

Secret, the only ... What nobody does for the American military in orbit. It is believed that it is a platform for testing promising military space technology. Conspirologists believe that this is a “space interceptor” for the inspection (and destruction?) Of enemy satellites. Or to deliver bombs for dumping on the adversary ...

My launch infographic.



Lack of information gives rise to fears and fantasies. Most likely, there are no impressive opportunities for changing orbits and conducting energetic maneuvers due to limitations of the propulsion system (as evidenced by its passive behavior in orbit in past missions). It has two qualities - the ability to return to Earth with the results of experiments and equipment samples, as well as a long time of active work in orbit (more than 2 years). In service there are two devices. Now, but it’s not accurate, number 1 flew. The parameters of the orbit and the time of the forthcoming flight are unknown.

Another feature of this flight is a certain “service module” attached to the aft of the device. The volume of the regular cargo compartment is limited. Therefore, we decided to screw an additional module to the “plane”, which will not return to Earth, but allows you to place additional equipment.

Among the well-known equipment and experiments (there are some) will be a microsatellite from air force cadets, seeds and materials from NASA (for checking long-term exposure in outer space) and a certain unit from military sailors for converting solar energy into microwave directional radiation for transmission to Earth.

Of the features that are always noted - it is reusable (but not from Mask. But from Boeing (fu)) and is put into orbit (in five missions out of six) on the Atlas V launch vehicle, on which Russian RD-180 engines are mounted . However, SpaceX also received a contract from the military for one launch (5th mission), which it successfully implemented in the 17th year.



Two links to additional material on this mission: Mission

Information from everydayastrounavt NSF
Flight Article