New unmanned spacecraft set to launch

Defense Professionals ^ | 4/192010 | Staff Sgt. Vanessa Young

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Air Force officials are scheduled to launch the U.S.'s newest and most advanced unmanned re-entry spacecraft April 21 at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will provide a flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components and associated technology to be efficiently transported to and from the space environment where it will need to function.

The X-37B will also prove new technology and components before they are committed to operational satellites.

The OTV is the first vehicle since NASA's shuttle orbiter that has the ability to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis.

"The X-37B is the only self contained effort intended to be an economically viable experimental test platform on-orbit for months at a time and then return," said David Hamilton Jr., the Air Force Rapid Capabilities office director.

Mr. Hamilton explained the X-37B as a risk reduction vehicle for space experimentation that explores concepts of operation for a long-duration, reusable space vehicle.

"The OTV has the potential to revolutionize how the Air Force operates in space by making space operations more aircraft like and adding in the capability for returnable plug-and-play experiments," Mr. Hamilton added.

The X-37 program, while originally a NASA initiative, is now led by Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office officials, which expedite development and fielding of select Defense Department combat support and weapons systems. AFRCO officials are currently working on the X-37B program, building upon early development and testing conducted by officials from NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The X-37B's first flights will allow Air Force officials to evaluate the vehicle's performance and ensure the components and systems work the way they were designed.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The X-37 has the capability to stay in space for up to 270 days

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Yes, this is the test flight

[stefanbatory]

how much weight can one of these carry?

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Most of the program is still classified

[Paul Ross]

Pictures:

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle in the encapsulation cell at the Astrotech facility April 2010, in Titusville, Fla.

[longtermmemmory]

looks like the 1950’s-60’s shuttle design concepts.

This must be released now to counter the Obama NASA catastophy.

[r9etb]

Not very pleasing on the eyes is it?

... eye of the beholder, and all that.

[GonzoGOP]

Not very pleasing on the eyes is it?

To be honest, I no longer care, just as long as it is flyable hardware. I'm so sick of NASA PowerPoint presentations about spacecraft that they never intended to build. I thought NASA 2004 VSE should have won the Hugo for the best work of illustrated Sci Fi.

[GonzoGOP]

New unmanned spacecraft set to launch

Lets name it the Barack Hussein Obama II. From the pictures the outside is half black, half white and the inside is all red. Its overall cost is classified. Nobody is sure where it is from. And the administration refuses to tell us exactly what it is supposed to do. And the only thing we can be sure of is that there is nobody at the controls.

[Tucker39]

Scoured the article for info as to how it is LAUNCHED. Nuttin’ honey! Does it self-launch from a runway; is it virtically fired like a rocket or is it taken to the edge of space and dropped from a mother craft?

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Its a black budget project.A black budget is a budget that is secretly collected from the overall income of a country, a corporation, a society of any form, a national department, and so on. A black budget usually covers expenses related to military research.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

It is launched from a Atlas V rocket