U.S. military shuttle type unmanned spacecraft "X37-B" who finished a secret mission returns to the ground for the first time in 718 days



As if it had a look like a space shuttle, the US Air Force's unmanned spacecraft, which seems to have carried out experiments wrapped secretly inside the planeX-37BFinished his mission in space for about two years and landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Unmanned U.S. Air Force space plane lands after secret, two-year mission | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-military-spaceplane-idUSKBN1830PF


The X - 37B is an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) that the US Air Force owns and operates two aircraft, and the aircraft was manufactured by Boeing, a leading aerospace engineer. It is now possible to carry out experiments with experimental equipment inside and the 4th mission "OTV-4" will be launched at the Atlas 5 launch in May 2015, which is actually 718 days I have been traveling around the earth orbit for a long time and continued the exam.


Although the layout of the vertical tail is different, its appearance is "small spaceless shuttle with no windows" itself. The total length is 8.92 m, the wing tip width is 4.55 m, the cargo size that can be loaded in the cargo room is 2.1 × 1.2 m, the same as the Space Shuttle it is possible to install it on launch rocket and launch it repeatedly . As you can see the airframe surrounding the aircraft after landing is surrounded by staff wearing protective clothing, this is due to the influence of radiation from staying in space for a long time and the work of extracting the highly toxic hydrazine as a propellant In order to protect yourself in case of.


This landing is carried out at 7:47 am on May 7, 2017 at EDT (Eastern Standard Time), and a sonic boom (shock wave sound) generated by the aircraft flew at high speed around the area It looks like a torrent. The US Air Force has released a video showing the landing situation on Twitter.


Also, a video capturing the landing on the runway with multiple cameras is also released. This runway is the same one repeatedly used in the mission of the Space Shuttle, and the picture also shows the appearance of the space shuttle's aircraft set next to the runway.


Also pictures taken at a drawing angle. It is quite obvious that it enters at a sharp angle and decelerates and landing at a stretch by flare (raising the nose), if it is the case of the aircraft landing at the same "glider" as the Space Shuttle.


The purpose of this long-term mission is obviously closed to a secret veil and we can not know its contents. The mission itself is being pursued by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (Emergency Capacity Building Office) and its objectives are "Risk Reduction and Experiment and Performance Development Concept for Reusable Spacecraft Technology" and " It is announced that it supports the future of the United States in the universe ", but since it is all secretly enclosed, it is also calling for speculation that it is actually used for reconnaissance activities and secret weapons development.

This mission of 719 days has become the longest mission of the past beyond the last OTV - 3 mission 675 days. For the Air Force, we plan to start our fifth mission in the second half of 2017.

Related Posts:

in Note,   Hardware,   Science,   Video, Posted by darkhorse_log