Year in space with an unknown purpose: the successor of the Shuttle, the top-secret spacecraft X-37B

X-37B before the last launch

May 20 will be exactly one year since the launch of the space mission Boeing X-37 , in which the reusable unmanned spacecraft X-37B OTV was launched into Earth orbit (launch USA-261). This is the fourth launch of the devices of this series, the first of which took place in 2010 - but so far not all questions on these devices have answers.

The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, OTV, is a project of a small, reusable orbital UAV. He is put into orbit by a rocket, and he lands at the airfield with the help of wings, using lifting force. The project was launched by Boeing in 1999 by order of NASA and the United States Air Force.
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The initial development of the project, which NASA, the Air Force and Boeing invested in different proportions, cost $ 192 million, and due to the success of the project, the aircraft manufacturer received in 2002 the next contract in the amount of $ 301 million to continue development.


X-37B on the runway in 2010

The project as a whole is based on the experience of building Space Shuttle Orbiter reusable spacecraft, which went into space for 30 years, from 1981 to 2011. It was originally planned that the X-37 will be used for approaching the satellites and repairing them, and will be put into orbit in the cargo space of the Shuttle (the X-37 is 9 meters long and the Shuttle length is 37 meters). But then it was decided that the withdrawal of the Shuttles was too expensive for the space exploration program, and the X-37 was remade to be put into orbit using a rocket.

In 2006, the United States Air Force announced that they would independently develop the X-37 variant, which was called the X-37B OTV. It was planned that the X-37B will be able to conduct in orbit up to 270 consecutive days. The secretary of the Air Force said that the development of the project will focus on "risk reduction, experiments, and the development of the working concept of reusable spacecraft, in order to achieve long-term goals of space exploration."


Comparison of different devices

As a result of all the alterations, it was decided that the Atlas-V class missiles (the first stage of which is used by the Russian RD-180 engines) will be put out into X-37B space, and the old hangars and landing strips in the space center will be used for landing and maintenance of the equipment. Kennedy, previously used by Shuttles.

At the same time, the specific goals and objectives of the program are kept secret by the Air Force. Reported only about "testing technology to create a reusable unmanned platform for the US Air Force." Electronic on-board systems, flight systems, navigation, thermal protection and re-entry systems are checked. The current launch of the X-37B is officially connected with testing a new version of the engine on the Hall effect (a variety of the ion engine), which is planned to be used on future NASA satellites.


Schematic representation of the apparatus

However, the US Air Force has repeatedly been accused of attempting to create space weapons and using the X-37B as a spy satellite. In 2012, allegations were made about using it to spy on the first Chinese spacecraft of the Tyangun-1 orbital station class - true, they were quite convincingly refuted by the strong difference in the orbits of the vehicles. In 2014, The Guardian brought the opinion of experts who believe that the device is testing the work of systems for espionage and surveillance in harsh space conditions.


X-37B device

Questions are the secrecy of the details of missions, in particular - the lack of accurate information about their duration. For example, this mission should have lasted no more than 200 days, but after three days it will be exactly one year old. If the Air Force did indeed test all the systems listed in the official mission description, it would be in their interest to land the drone as soon as possible in order to start exploring the results of the experiments. Its prolonged stay in orbit corresponds to the behavior characteristic of observation satellites.

Of course, keeping the aura of secrecy around military experiments is not unique. Maybe the X-37B really only conducts various peaceful experiments and does not spy on anyone. One can only hope that a new round of development of space technologies will not lead to a new space arms race, although the prerequisites for this are already emerging. It was only in early May that the Washington Post in Washington published an article in which Russia and China are directly accused of developing technologies that allow them to attack US spacecraft.