X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV)

http://www.space.com/34343-x37b-space-plane-otv4-mission-passes-500-days.html
 
Looks like it's on its way home soon.

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight

@Itzalpean Only that there's landing prep activity at the SLF and OPF-1. No mention of X-37B by name, but we can put two and two together.
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https://mobile.twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/829327070836703236
 
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02/the-air-forces-secretitve-x-37b-space-plane-may-or-may-not-be-about-to-land/
 
http://www.space.com/36101-x-37b-military-space-plane-nears-record.html
 
http://www.space.com/36205-x-37b-space-plane-breaks-record.html
 
The US Air Force X-37B spaceplane landed at Kennedy Space Center's SLF runway at about 1145 UTC May 7 after 717.9 days in space.

;D
 

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Get out of the bloody way man, we want to see the hall thruster this thing was supposed to be testing.

My assumption was that the rocket bell (which has always been offset to the right) would be accompanied by the hall thruster to the left. I suppose they could have put it in the payload bay?
 
What is the landing speed of this thing? I think it's over 200Kts but I haven't seen a specific number.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB5-lBO7wgA
 
Mat Parry said:
Get out of the bloody way man, we want to see the hall thruster this thing was supposed to be testing.

My assumption was that the rocket bell (which has always been offset to the right) would be accompanied by the hall thruster to the left. I suppose they could have put it in the payload bay?
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Via Gizmodo
 

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Moose said:
Mat Parry said:
Get out of the bloody way man, we want to see the hall thruster this thing was supposed to be testing.

My assumption was that the rocket bell (which has always been offset to the right) would be accompanied by the hall thruster to the left. I suppose they could have put it in the payload bay?
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Via Gizmodo
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thanks!

Well that certainly looks like the hall thruster in question (albeit a surprisingly clean one), I'd expect it to be stained slightly orange from the exhaust of the conventional RCS thrusters like the rest of the ship (Another assumption). Perhaps a cover was placed over the hall thruster upon landing (hence the whiteness)?

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/ula/modified-xr‑5-hall-thruster-operates-successfully-on-orbit/

We can be sure that something else drives all the secrecy
 
...
 

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https://www.amazon.com/Nighthawk-NUMA-Files-Clive-Cussler/dp/0399184015/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

When the most advanced aircraft ever designed vanishes over the South Pacific, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are drawn into a deadly contest to locate the fallen machine. Russia and China covet the radical technology, but the United States worries about a darker problem. They know what others don’t—that the X-37 is carrying a dangerous secret, a payload of exotic matter, extracted from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and stored at a temperature near absolute zero. As long as it remains frozen, the cargo is inert, but if it thaws, it will unleash a catastrophe of nearly unthinkable proportions.
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Does Clive Cussler know what the X-37's mission was................ ;D
 
bobbymike said:
https://www.amazon.com/Nighthawk-NUMA-Files-Clive-Cussler/dp/0399184015/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

When the most advanced aircraft ever designed vanishes over the South Pacific, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are drawn into a deadly contest to locate the fallen machine. Russia and China covet the radical technology, but the United States worries about a darker problem. They know what others don’t—that the X-37 is carrying a dangerous secret, a payload of exotic matter, extracted from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and stored at a temperature near absolute zero. As long as it remains frozen, the cargo is inert, but if it thaws, it will unleash a catastrophe of nearly unthinkable proportions.
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Does Clive Cussler know what the X-37's mission was................ ;D
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Wait, it's not absolute zero when floating around. Why didn't it already destroy the earth? Should have had it retrieve a Vang survival pod instead.
 
SpaceX is launching an X-37B in August.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/06/06/u-s-air-force-taps-spacex-to-launch-next-x-37b-spaceplane-mission/
 
Damn, beat me to it. :D Looks like ULA lost that one.
 
We know one experiment that's going to aboard this flight.

The Air Force said it intends to continue building “upon its fourth mission collaboration with experiment partners. The mission will carry the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader (ASETS-11) to test experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipes in the long duration space environment.”
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http://spacenews.com/spacex-will-launch-next-secret-x-37-air-force-mission/#sthash.mrj2h0ga.dpuf
 
flateric said:
from 30th Space Wing Facebook page
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What's with the ground crew wearing hazmat / moon suits on post landing handling? Is it the fuel, or something else ?

Do not recall when the shuttle landed, there be a volley of ground crew wearing these suits bar the Emrgency crews in their Oshkosh ARFF or E-Pumpers

Cheers
 
Yes, there are hydrazine thrusters on board.
 
TomS said:
Yes, there are hydrazine thrusters on board.
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Why does the X-37B use hydrazine for its thrusters when it is a toxic gas? I thought that there might be a better way for the USAF to fuel the X-37B than hydrazine. :-\
 
Hydrazine thrusters are simple and effective. There aren't a lot of viable alternatives.
 
FighterJock said:
Why does the X-37B use hydrazine for its thrusters when it is a toxic gas? I thought that there might be a better way for the USAF to fuel the X-37B than hydrazine. :-\
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The main advantgage of hypergolic fuels are simplicity (no ignition system is required) and that they are storable (unlike cryogenics) so are suitable for missions that last a long time
 

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Falcon 9 rocket fired up for launch of military mini-shuttle

Running through a practice countdown and hold-down engine firing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket passed a key checkpoint Thursday ahead of liftoff next week with the U.S. Air Force’s fifth X-37B spaceplane flight, a mission that will come with several firsts.
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https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/08/31/falcon-9-rocket-fired-up-for-launch-of-military-mini-shuttle/
 
No, this is a reflight of one of the two known X-37Bs. Neither of them are on orbit right now.
 
Wonder where those small sub-satellites they mentioned in the article are being carried in the X-37B itself or on the Falcon 9.
 
Probably on a secondary payload ring below the X-37B. That's how they usually do it on Falcon 9. If they were deploying from the X-37B itself, I doubt it would have even been mentioned, considering how sensitive they are about most payloads.
 
Well this video got some quick final editing. The current track for Irma goes right by KSC so they better get the booster stowed away before the winds pick up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-7VNf7DCY8
 
No matter how many times I see things like this I get goosebumps. Ya gotta love it!!
 
bobbymike said:
No matter how many times I see things like this I get goosebumps. Ya gotta love it!!
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Can't wait until Blue Origin is landing their New Glenn. ;D
 
sferrin said:
bobbymike said:
No matter how many times I see things like this I get goosebumps. Ya gotta love it!!
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Can't wait until Blue Origin is landing their New Glenn. ;D
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The militarist side of me envisioned a warhead landing right on top of a Nork missile. I wonder if you could achieve that accuracy from space but keep the RV speed fast enough to make intercepting it very hard?
 
The next launch of the X-37B OTV-6 is slated for a 2019 launch on the Atlas V.

At least one more X-37B flight, OTV-6, is on the books for liftoff on an Atlas 5 rocket in 2019 on the so-called Air Force Space Command-7 launch.
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Source link below.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/09/07/spacex-beats-hurricane-with-smooth-launch-of-militarys-x-37b-spaceplane/
 
Gen Robin Rand visits at Global Strike Command. Upside down X-37 with something in the bay?
 

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bobbymike said:
Gen Robin Rand visits at Global Strike Command. Upside down X-37 with something in the bay?
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Intriguing!!! may I ask, where did you find this image?
 
Mat Parry said:
bobbymike said:
Gen Robin Rand visits at Global Strike Command. Upside down X-37 with something in the bay?
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Intriguing!!! may I ask, where did you find this image?
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Good place to hide the CCTV cameras in that area. ;)
 

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