SpaceX Will Help US Space Force Launch Its Secretive X-37B Space Plane

'The United States military is preparing to launch its secretive X-37B space plane on a seventh mission in orbit,' reports NBC News.

Shaped like a small space shuttle, 'It's an itty-bitty spaceplane, not quite 30 feet long and under 10 feet tall,' writes the Washington Post, 'with a pair of stubby wings and a rounded, bulldog-like nose.' Space.com says the launch window for the uncrewed vehicle opens Monday at 8:14 p.m. EST.


From NBC News:
For the first time, the X-37B will ride into orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Since its debut more than a decade ago, the X-37B has been a source of intrigue within the space community, mostly owing to the mysterious nature of its activities in low Earth orbit. Despite not knowing its true purpose or location, skywatchers have occasionally spotted and photographed the space plane in the night sky using telescopes... The military is tight-lipped about such operations, but the Space Force said the X-37B missions 'are key to ensuring safe and responsible operations in space for all users of the space domain...'

The 'U.S. Space Force says that launching on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket will allow testing 'in new orbital regimes, experimenting with space domain awareness technologies and investigating the radiation effects to NASA materials.'

The Washington Post notes that 'The reference about 'space domain awareness' could mean that it will be keeping an eye on other satellites, potentially watching for threats':

At least one part of the mission is known. The vehicle will 'expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight' in an experiment for NASA. In the past, the Pentagon has also used the X-37B to test some of its cutting edge technologies, including a small solar panel designed to transform solar energy into microwaves, a technology that one day could allow energy harnessed in space to be beamed back to Earth...

If Sunday's X-37B mission is like previous ones, the spaceplane could be in space for a while. Its first flight, which launched in 2010, lasted 224 days.

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