US secretive spaceplane to try to change its orbit using Earth's atmosphere
Representational image of Earth's orbit.
The experimental spaceplane of the US Space Force called X-37B is set to use the atmospheric drag of Earth for the first time to change its own orbit.
This spaceplane has been in space for more than 10 months. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was launched by SpaceX’sFalcon Heavy rocket on December 29, 2023.
This is the seventh time the spaceplane has entered orbit and big plans have been made by the Space Force for the last leg of the journey of the test vehicle around the Earth.
The spaceplane will start a series of orbital manoeuvres called as aerobraking in which they use the drag of the atmosphere of Earth to change its orbit while trying to expend minimal fuel, announced the Space Forceon Thursday (Oct 10).
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The X-37B spaceplane has been built by Boeing and it will be disposed of its service module before its remaining mission objectives are completed and will then de-orbit for concluding its seventh mission in space.
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“This novel and efficient series of manoeuvres demonstrate the Space Force’s commitment to achieving groundbreaking innovation as it conducts national security missions in space,” said Frank Kendall, secretary of the U.S. Air Force, in a statement.
US Space Force's secretive test vehicle
The test vehicle's capabilities and specifics have been kept very secretively by the Space Force as the US has been competing with China to develop the next generation of reusable spacecraft.
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The Space Force has shared very little information regarding the ongoing mission of the spaceplane and has only revealed that the vehicle is set to operate in new orbital alignments and take part in experiments with “space domain awareness technologies.”
As part of its seventh mission, the spaceplane will also carry out an experiment designed by NASA which includes exposing plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment found in long-duration spaceflight to gather data required for future crewed missions.
In May 2020, the X-37B was launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as part of its sixth mission and it remained in orbit for 908 days beforeit landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in November 2022.
(With inputs from agencies)