The US Air Force’s X-37B program is launching a robotic mini-shuttle from Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the first time.
The upcoming mission – known as Orbital Test Vehicle-5 – is lifting off from Launch Complex 39A at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on September 7th, it has been claimed.
The secret military spacecraft is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A on the morning of September 7 according to nasaspaceflight.com
The X-37B (pictured) one of two in the Air Force fleet, conducted unspecified experiments for more than 700 days while in orbit. The upcoming mission – known as Orbital Test Vehicle-5 – is lifting off from Launch Complex 39A at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida
SpaceX last week conducted a Static Fire test on the Falcon 9 rocket to be used, a key milestone ahead of the rocket’s first launch of a U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane for the OTV-5 mission.
Four previous X-37B missions have been launched by United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.
The US Air Force’s unmanned X-37B space plane has flown three previous secret missions to date.
Each time it has carried a mystery payload on long-duration flights in Earth orbit.
According to the Air Force, one on board OTV-5 payload is US thermal spreader which will test the longevity of electronics and heat pipes in the space environment.
SpaceX´s first publicly disclosed launch contract for the Air Force was awarded last year for a next-generation Global Positioning System satellite flight in 2018.
A second GPS launch contract was awarded in March.
The contracts are valued at £83 million ($65 million) and £96.5 million ($75 million), respectively.
In May 2016, the US National Reconnaissance Office disclosed it had hired SpaceX to launch a spy satellite aboard a Falcon 9.
The mission, which was arranged through an intermediary, Ball Aerospace, took place in May.
In June this year the unmanned military space plane landed at Kennedy Space Centre Sunday with a sonic boom concluding an almost two-year mission in orbit, according to the US Air Force.
The Air Force tweeted shortly after 8am that the vehicle had landed safely, marking the conclusion of its fourth classified mission, which lasted more than 700 days.
The unmanned X-37B, which resembles a mini space shuttle, landing on a runway used by the now-mothballed craft.
The reusable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (pictured) returned in June, concluding an almost two-year mission in orbit, according to the US Air Force
The Boeing-built space plane blasted off in May 2015 from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.
The X-37B, one of two in the Air Force fleet, conducted unspecified experiments for more than 700 days while in orbit.
It was the fourth and lengthiest mission so far for the secretive program, managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.
The Air Force said the orbiters ‘perform risk reduction, experimentation and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.’
The Air Force tweeted that the vehicle had landed safely, marking the conclusion of its fourth classified mission, which lasted more than 700 days
However, the exact nature of the mission and its cost is classified.
The Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit group promoting the peaceful exploration of space, says the secrecy surrounding the X-37B suggests the presence of intelligence-related hardware being tested or evaluated aboard the craft.
The vehicles are 29 feet long and have a wingspan of 15 feet, making them about one quarter of the size of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s now-retired space shuttles.
The X-37B, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV, first flew in April 2010 and returned after eight months.
A second mission launched in March 2011 and lasted 15 months, while a third took flight in December 2012 and returned after 22 months.
THE X-37B MYSTERY
The U.S. Air Force’s unmanned X-37B space plane has flown three previous secret missions to date.
Each time it has carried a mystery payload on long-duration flights in Earth orbit.
The spacecraft looks similar to Nasa’s space shuttle but is much smaller. The X-37B is about 29ft (8.8m) long and 9.5ft (2.9 m) tall.
It has a wingspan of just less than 15ft (4.6 m). At launch, it weighs 11,000lbs (4,990kg).
Like a shuttle, X-37B is blasted into orbit by a rocket. However, it lands using a runway like a normal aircraft. The X-37B is too small to carry people onboard, but does have a cargo bay similar to that of a pickup truck, which is just large enough to carry a small satellite
The craft is taken into orbit on a rocket but lands like the space shuttle by gliding down to Earth.
While its main mission payload is a mystery, Nasa has revealed it has a materials experiment aboard.
The Planetary Society is tagging along with a solar-sail demo.
Ten CubeSat nanosatellites are also taking a piggyback ride into orbit.
The Air Force relocated the program in 2014, taking over two of NASA’s former shuttle-processing hangars.
Air Force officials said that several technologies are being tested in the program.
‘The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold; reusable spacecraft technologies for America’s future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth,’ an official said, according to Click Orlando.
When the plane landed in June at the Kennedy Space Center (pictured) the sonic boom could be heard throughout Central Florida, and some Brevard County residents likely heard them before it even touched down at the Shuttle Landing Facility
Officials also explained that the X-37B is the first vehicle of its kind able to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis. It is the first with this capability since NASA’s Shuttle Orbiter.
The X-37B is able to stay in space longer because of its minimum on-orbit time of 270 days, officials said.
According to the Air Force, this is the fourth successful mission for the project, with the first three landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
In total, the two craft have spent a total of 2,085 days in orbit.