The MOON?
Posted on 02/25/2025 2:40:37 AM PST by Libloather
For the first time, we’re seeing an image from the record-breaking US military space plane while in Earth orbit.
Over the weekend, the US Space Force shared a photo taken by the spacecraft X-37B during its most recent secret mission.
It’s the first operational image shared while the space plane is in orbit.
The image shows part of the space plane, the blue marble of Earth and the darkness of space.
“An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO in 2024,” the US Space Force wrote on X.
“The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel.”
The space plane is an orbital test platform for different experimentation missions, some of which are classified.
Its seventh mission, known as OTV-7, was launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2023 and included both unclassified and classified experiments.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Studios do have an up and down, and by watching SciFi we become accustomed to expecting one in space. (Or rather in free fall.)
I call it space fartin’.
That would be!😀
The MOON?
getting a photo of it means it’s near the end of its mission. Already outdated
That is the dark side of the planet, no one has ever seen that yet.
Unless the pic is psyops on the Russians, Iran, Chinese, and the NORKS.
Ping!.......................
They used a Falcon Heavy to launch it. Expending the center core to get the mass ratio to put the payload into what was already admitted to a highly elliptical orbit. This means at least a GTO level orbit that would have a peak altitude just outside the GEO belt. Taking a image at apogee would yield an image like that of earth in full disk. The fact they also admit aero maneuvers means perigee is down near low earth orbit you need sensible atmosphere to use the wings and heat shield to lower apogee or do plane change maneuvers. The FH can put 20 tonnes into a GTO level orbit or less mass much higher. They intend to bring it back so it could not have gone fully into GSO it would have needed a huge amount of fuel to brake down from a circular orbit so it has to be in an elliptical orbit with a perigee close enough to earth to use aerobraking to lower it’s orbit until it can reenter using its wings and heat shield. Falcon second stage doesn’t have months of on orbit fuel holding time. It’s LOX would evap and the kero would freeze solid. To use N2O4/UMH would imply a kick stage of at least equal mass to the payload. It’s 1800 meter per second delta V from LEO to GTO then 1200 ish more to GSO. You need exactly the same coming down it’s 1200 ish to an elliptical orbit that has a perigee close enough to earth to use aerobraking at all. So you need 2400 DV from GTO back too GTO that means roughly equal fuel mass to payload mass not including tank mass and engine mass.
“getting a photo of it means it’s near the end of its mission. Already outdated”
yes... and the reason trump has told russia, china, to stop spending so much on defense... they can’t beat us and now we are only going to build up our ultimate space force... nuke everything from space.
This!
“The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking”
Like the shuttle that we used to have.
I call it space fartin’.
***********
I wonder if a space fart has odor.
In space, nobody can hear your fart. But they can smell it, yes.
X-37B spent 908 days in orbit during its last mission, setting a new endurance record.
How long have those astronauts been stuck on the space station?
Know what? I am getting discouraged. This, and another Space X heavy test flight recently and they were more important than getting the astronauts back?
Guess Elon was too busy with DOGE to do it.
if I’m not mistaken, They’re hitting Atmo at the low point of the orbit, using friction to reduce, or brake, the far point of its orbit, but they’re not in atmo enough to de orbit it.
and they probably used a tad bit of fuel at the apoapsis to burn off some speed so they could get back into Atmo at the periapsis.
Pink Floyd?
If people understood how alone we are they would be nicer.
NAAAAAAAAAAA it’s not in their nature.
What no one has mentioned is that it’s made by Boeing and has been in service 15 years and today Boeing has trouble making a 737 let alone a spacecraft.
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