By remaining in orbit for 908 days,The X-37B Lands before touching down, the covert X-37B spacecraft broke its previous record for flying duration.
Few specifics about the autonomous craft, which is managed by the United States Space Force (USSF), are made public because it is officially classified.
The most recent journey, according to the officials, contained a variety of scientific experiments.
The US military developed the X-37B derivative of the X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), which was originally developed by NASA.
What’s New?
That type made its orbital debut in 2010, and the two spacecraft built so far have flown for longer and longer periods of time, including a 674-day mission that ended in 2014.
Although several other space missions, like the International Space Station, have remained in orbit for longer periods of time, its most recent 908-day mission establishes a new record for the vehicle.
The X-37B spacecraft, built by Boeing, resembles a small space shuttle and performs similarly, but without a crew of people.
It takes off vertically from the nose of an Atlas V or Falcon 9 rocket, travels through space for extended periods of time in an orbit of about 400 kilometers, and then lands like a regular aircraft upon re-entering the atmosphere of Earth.
What’s More?
The OTV-6 mission, which began in May 2020, came to a close with the landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on November 12.
According to officials, it conducted a number of scientific studies, including one that was created by the US Naval Research Laboratory and involved solar panels that collected energy and microwaves that were then transmitted back to Earth.
It also unveiled a satellite with an electromagnetic propulsion system that had been created by students at the United States Air Force Academy.
Digging Into More Details
NASA also offered more tests, including several that examined how different materials and seeds would fare after being exposed to space.
There is suspicion that like the space shuttle before it, X-37B serves both military and scientific purposes.
In an interview earlier this year, Dmitry Rogozin, the then-president of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, suggested that the object might be “a carrier of some kind of reconnaissance apparatus, and a carrier of weapons of mass destruction.”
Concluding Notes
Although the USSF declined to comment, a statement from the organization’s Joseph Fritschen said: “The X-37B continues to push the limits of experimentation, supported by an elite government and industry team behind the scenes.
The Department of the Air Force and the scientific community have found value in the capacity to conduct experiments while in orbit and return them safely for in-depth examination on Earth.
We could host more tests than ever before thanks to the service module on OTV-6. A request for an interview from New Scientist was ignored by Fritschen.
