The Boeing/ US Air Force X-37B
A newly unveiled video shows some details of the inside of the cargo bay of the US Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane, which was launched on its sixth flight mission in May of this year.
Some additional details have emerged about the Pentagon’s secretive new spaceplane when footage from a Boeing promotional video showing the X-37B’s cargo bay doors opening appeared on social media.
I cropped the Boeing video a bit to show the X-37B deployment sequence a bit better, I hope @BoeingSpace releases the full video :) #X37B pic.twitter.com/jMrj7HZWZS
— DutchSpace (@DutchSpace) September 15, 2020
The short clip was reportedly taken from a promotional video shown by Boeing Space at the Air Force Association’s annual convention, and shows the X-37B in an upright position, with its doors swinging open.
The entire craft is 29 feet long – small enough to fit inside the Space Shuttle’s cargo bay. The functions and mission parameters of the spacecraft are mostly secret, but speculation on the matter includes the placing into orbit of microsatellites and possibly anti-satellite weapons such as microwave emitters, as well as being used to conduct experiments. LINK
It is expected that these types of reusable spacecraft will have a major role in future space activities. China has recently launched and recovered a small reusable spacecraft, one that is probably similar to the X-37B. India and Russia have also been developing reusable unmanned spacecraft designs. Several commercial space planes are also being developed.
Click to see the full-size image
The X-37B has completed five flights over the last ten years. The last mission, which ended a year ago, lasted nearly 780 days. The aircraft is currently on its sixth mission. LINK
The US reportedly possesses two X-37B vehicles, which are made by Boeing (following the construction of one X-37A) and are derived from Boeing’s X-40. It is an unmanned spacecraft that has a vertical take-off (carried by a launch vehicle) and lands like a conventional aircraft. The X-37B space craft was launched for its sixth mission in May on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
A report by Loren Grush for The Verge provided some details about the missions objectives:
“The Air Force claims that the experiments and technology that the X-37B carries “enables the US to more efficiently and effectively develop space capabilities necessary to maintain superiority in the space domain.” This mission will have even more experiments than usual, thanks to the addition of a new service module — a cylindrical structure attached to the bottom of the spaceplane that will be packed with technology to be tested on orbit. LINK
The X-37B is carrying a small FalconSat-8 satellite developed by the US Air Force Academy which in turn contains five experimental payloads, and is also being used to conduct experiments on behalf of NASA and the US Naval Academy, whose objectives are stated to include researching the effects of radiation on seeds and transforming solar power into radio frequencies that could be transmitted to the Earth’s surface.
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“…speculation on the matter includes the placing into orbit of microsatellites and possibly anti-satellite weapons such as microwave emitter…”
Wasn’t undersized-penis Esper just crying like a little girl about f’kign Chinese and Russian DEW weapons threatening us? If Esper is accusing China and Russia of having DEW weapons in space, then the U.S. has already had them there for a decade.
Hey Esper: Americans can’t afford your overpriced, dumb-assed space buggy because less than half of us are even IN the labor force anymore. You are part of the cabal that destroyed the America you purport to defend. And I hope the space buggy doesn’t have MCAS. Boeing, FFS… were they the low-bid contractor?
You come from a bicycle economy Yourself. The latest invensions by Your friends are bollons as firebombs:)
That’s precisely how we’re going to liberate Greenland from you fake socialists, Jens. It’s our land now. Trump said so. Greenites are yearning to be free.
Here we ask each other. Today Greenland has autonomy and we in soth pay them 300 mio dollars ro keeep them in almost same living standards then others.
So number 1 is asking them. Secondly the whole Nato is behind them.They are With and has a big USA base there since 1945.
Maybee You have forgotten waht Our Premiere Minister as well at people livingthere as well as here tol Trump.
And he allowed himself to be offended. ………………………………………
We are kapitalists. If not we were not memebers of EU. But we have a good compensation for taking care of all living here in a socilialistic way. Thats a good investment.
Maybee You understand Adam and Eva. Adam could not exist with no ribbs and breath well. The low incomes are mainly doing well.
Jesus…. RELAX Jens. I’m just kidding.
Greenland is safe… for now.
You just got bitch slapped LOL!
He has no idea about Greenland and what they think as well as the whole Denmark, which also has Faroe Island as autonome.
We learned TRump a lesson. Not many are able to do that. And Trump is no dictator even You are learned a President is.
His bitchin’ nad moanin’ was telling us everything we needed to know.
As a rule of thumb, whatever a US official is complaining about, they are either finished and done it already or are in the process of doing it ten-folds themselves.. Stealing, killing, executions, banned weapons, breaching treaties, concentration camps, crushing protests, aggression, attacks, etc., you name it.
I heard that Boeing airplanes are “designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys.” The Chinese will do it faster, better, and cheaper with their space plane:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253813-china-seems-to-have-launched-a-secret-reusable-space-plane/
Its only about this airplane. They took to many cheep shortcuts upscaling a 737 being too smart. And they for good reasons pay for that big mistake.
The rest – as I recall it – has been from very good to the best airplanes in the whole world. The 737 is the most sold airplane for passengers in the whole world – according to wiki thats 11.000 but You has to subtract a several hundreds named as X.
Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll fly on Airbus planes, they’re nicer anyway.
My point is Boing apart from those X models has done a dammed good job for the whole world in transportation – and airbus too.
You have a point? Nobody cares about your opinion on the board. In fact everyone thinks you’re a joke.
Of course do. There are reasers which never write ..
They dont like Your one sided nepotisme hanging as hot ballons and after some time land not as hot are.
Som think: Why didnt they use all that rubber as contraseption.
So it’s ready to carry nuclear weapon on-board and to deliver it to 200-300 km orbit. Strike from this distance is very dangerous. It’s not a 20-30 mm gun for a satellite that has “frightened” Pentagon week ago, it’s much more serious.