Posted on 10/27/2019 11:15:29 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 successfully landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Oct. 27, 2019 at 3:51 a.m.
The spaceplane conducted on-orbit experiments for 780 days during its mission, recently breaking its own record by being in orbit for more than two years. As of today, the total number of days spent on-orbit for the entire test vehicle program is 2,865 days.
“The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane,” said Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett. “Each successive mission advances our nation’s space capabilities.”
This is the Air Force’s premier reusable and unmanned spacecraft, providing the performance and flexibility to improve technologies in a way that allows scientists and engineers to recover experiments tested in a long-duration space environment.
“The safe return of this spacecraft, after breaking its own endurance record, is the result of the innovative partnership between Government and Industry,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “The sky is no longer the limit for the Air Force and, if Congress approves, the U.S. Space Force.”
Managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the X-37B program performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.
“This program continues to push the envelope as the world’s only reusable space vehicle. With a successful landing today, the X-37B completed its longest flight to date and successfully completed all mission objectives,” said Randy Walden, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director. “This mission successfully hosted Air Force Research Laboratory experiments, among others, as well as providing a ride for small satellites.”
The distinctive ability to test new systems in space and return them to Earth is unique to the X-37B program and enables the U.S. to more efficiently and effectively develop space capabilities necessary to maintain superiority in the space domain.
“This spacecraft is a key component of the space community. This milestone demonstrates our commitment to conducting experiments for America’s future space exploration,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Keen, X-37B program manager. “Congratulations to the X-37B team for a job well done.”
This will be the second time the X-37B landed at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility--Mission 4 landed after 718 days in orbit. The spaceplane was designed for an on-orbit duration of 270 days.
“Today marks an incredibly exciting day for the 45th Space Wing,” said Brig. Gen. Doug Schiess, 45th Space Wing commander. “Our team has been preparing for this event, and I am extremely proud to see their hard work and dedication culminate in today’s safe and successful landing of the X-37B.”
The fifth mission launched on Sept. 7, 2017 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on-board a Space X Falcon 9 booster, and the U.S. Air Force is preparing to launch the sixth X-37B mission from CCAFS in 2020.
Editor's note: For more imagery, visit our X-37B feature page: https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/X37BOTV
I wasn’t with Raytheon, I was IN the US Air Force. 22 years.
But I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying.
I worked on main frame computers systems that spanned three stories and had a whopping 1 Megabyte of core memory, which had to be cooled by copper water pipes.
Yet the computer I’m using right now has 32 GB of RAM.
We’ve come a long way, baby!
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
Thanks for your service.
What’s even more ‘frightening’ about the advance of technology is not that your desktop has 32gb of RAM... but that you can get a tablet with 32gb, and it’s aircooled.
I wonder how they solved the thermal tile separation/ablation issues...
More modern materials, or ...??
It looks fairly pristine in that photo
Maybe it was taken before it took off.
They truly were the Greatest Generation.
Did it deploy the Space Selfies satellite which fell to Earth this morning back east? Can’t find the link from this morning.
No, and it didn’t even achieve orbit. Samsung used a high altitude balloon to launch it. https://www.samsung.com/uk/explore/samsung-within/innovation/space-selfie-behind-the-scenes/
I am having trouble finding the article which I saw back in July or August.
IIRC, they figured out a way to change the course of it without firing thrusters by having it “bounce” off the atmosphere. Apparently, having it fire thrusters made it easy to see and track.
See my above posts - even the smallest attitude thruster firing (except for Cold Gas, and even then...) can be seen out past the asteroid belt and much of the way to Jupiter.
Atmospheric braking and bouncing off the atmosphere isn’t a new idea either - and if you know that a craft is doing that, you can track it on IR and figure out where it’s going before it cools off. Again, if you know what it’s done, you know where it is. They were trying it when they thought nobody was looking. Not so much a thing any more.
That said, the advent of commercially available Virtual Very Large Arrays is rather the end of even that being terribly effective.
Be sure to have it in front of a single-wide with about four mangy dogs looking out from under the frame porch. LOL!
>>She’ll never leave Fred, and we know it.<<
I never thought about the Wilma/Betty dichotomy. :)
You’ve never been in space too long...
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