Mystery Robot Space Plane Still Flying, 7 Months Later

Fox News ^

[Neil E. Wright]

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. –  The secretive X-37B robotic space plane is about to set its own space-endurance record on a hush-hush project operated by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

The craft, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle-2, was boosted into Earth orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5. Tomorrow (Nov. 30), the X-37B spacecraft will mark its 270th day of flight — a lifetime in space that was heralded in the past as the vehicle's upper limit for spaceflight by project officials.

"It's still up there," U.S. Air Force Maj. Tracy Bunko of the Air Force Press Desk at the Pentagon, told SPACE.com, noting that project officials planned for a 9- month-plus mission, "so we're close to that now."

The X-37B's staying power is made feasible by its deployable solar array power system, unfurled from the vehicle's cargo bay. [Photos: Air Force's 2nd Secret X-37B Mission]

Built by Boeing's Phantom Works, the X-37B spacecraft is about 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide. It has a payload bay about the size of a pickup truck bed.

The X-37B resembles a miniature version of NASA's space shuttle. Two X-37Bs could fit inside the 60-foot (18-meter) cargo bay of a space shuttle.

[Neil E. Wright]

Very interesting.

[paul51]

it's Iranian mission isn't completed yet

[colorado tanker]

It's being flown by the autopilot . . .

[Jeff Chandler]

"It's still up there,"

Tampon's new slogan.

[colorado tanker]

ROTFLMAO!

[Paradox]

I remember when the shuttle first came out. I had the idea that they could use it to deploy a smaller "lifting body" type of reentry vehicle. I had something like the M2-F1 in mind. The military could hide such a launch, the shuttle returns, and the lifting body could do its nefarious work and return in secret.

I posed this idea to some teachers, and also with my friends in my physics class, they though it was silly. Except for one friend of mine, who found it fascinating. That guy is currently one of the richest men on the planet. Hmmm.....

[luckybogey]

For those interested in tracking OTV-2 in real time:

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=37375

[Robe]

More interesting is this ... if you click the link at the end of the article.. "Top ten Space weapons" you'll find this at # # ... X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV)
Scheduled for a test flight on April 20, 2010, the reusable robotic X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is a small space shuttle-like craft developed by the US Air Force.
If such a reusable space plane becomes feasible, it will offer unheard-of capabilities for launch on-demand, surprise, and flexibility.
If those benefits aren't enough, the space plane may be outfitted with a weapon to drop tungsten rods on Earth targets from outer space, the so-called "Rods from God."

Makes you wonder 'bout those explosions in Iran ......

[Petruchio]

Damn!

Those Occupy Wall Street weirdos gum up everything don’t they . . .

[rbg81]

That was my thought. Perhaps that’s what’s causing these mysterious explosions in Iran?

[Popman]

Maybe I don’t understand, but what is different between this vehicle and a satellite in orbit ? ....except this can came back in one piece....or at least is supposed to...

[Secret Agent Man]

“It’s still up there.”

I thought this was Viagra’s new slogan.

[Jewbacca]

Maybe crow bars, but the payload bay is too small for anything huge.

[TexasTransplant]

One hell of a Secret

TT

[Robe]

Wanna get hit wit a crowbar going 17000+ mph???????

[org.whodat]

LOL, your hat fell down over your eye. The thing is up there because they have a glitch, working on it, they do call it an experiment. This little thing is 29 feet long, the space shuttle 122 feet.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Are there any forums where people are tracking it and posting their observations?

How much longer can the Air Force keep it up there?

[Jewbacca]

Be pretty hard to hit a target that small — and mobile.

25 ft is the projected accuracy from a space-based kinetic weapon, less as the “bullet” gets smaller.

The size of a “rod” from the Thor project was roughly the same as a telephone pole.

This is just too small. Wrong orbit, as well, I suspect.

[Robe]

Well you ARE right.. (Copy that down).. but I can Dream can’t I ? Obama said so.....(8^)

[Jack Hydrazine]

Build your own x-40 model!
http://www.spacecraftreplicas.com/x-37-x-40/x-40-build
http://www.spacecraftreplicas.com/x-37-x-40