New Record by the X-37 B

I do not understand how or why they are calling this a secret...

www.msnbc.msn.com...

We have known about this shuttle craft for a couple of years, have we not?

The secretive X-37B robotic space plane is about to set its own space-endurance record on a hush-hush project operated by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

The craft, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle-2, was boosted into Earth orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5. On Wednesday, the X-37B spacecraft will mark its 270th day of flight — a lifetime in space that was heralded in the past as the vehicle's upper limit for spaceflight by project officials.

Another thread here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

speculated it had disappeared for two weeks...but I do not know how you could track an object this small anyway...

Originally posted by jeichelberg
speculated it had disappeared for two weeks...but I do not know how you could track an object this small anyway...

Its not as difficult as it sounds. A decent backyard astronomer can track it with a telescope. All you have to do is spot it once, calculate it orbital trajectory and plot it out.

Originally posted by SirMike
Its not as difficult as it sounds. A decent backyard astronomer can track it with a telescope. All you have to do is spot it once, calculate it orbital trajectory and plot it out.

Actually its even easier than that.
Other people have done the calculations for you, so just walk outside at the right time and look up.
heavens-above

Lockheed could have used the SR-71 to put the DR-21 drone into orbit and accomplished the same feat decades ago.



The only reason they failed in the DR-21 Drone program is that they were trying to use it in Earth's atmosphere for reconnaissance......they were scared to death if they put it into Orbit China or Russia would have thought it was a missile warhead and fired off their nuclear weapons.


There was a fear of putting military weapons in space in those decades.

Russia had it's own X-37b decades ago with a laser they were going to put into Orbit. Their leader abandoned it because he feared putting military weapons into space.


Why aren't Americans scared their Government has a military weapon in Space? The X-37b is under DOD so it's a weapon.

reply to post by SirMike


Thanks a lot for that link! Interesting and good to know persons have this ability with current technology available to the public...

reply to post by jeichelberg

The secret is not its existence or orbit.
Exactly what it's doing is.

reply to post by Phage


Thanks. Since it is a DoD project, I do have concerns...but I will not speculate on its flight purpose...

About the orbit not being a secret...

True, but it can, and does, change orbit.

reply to post by Frira

Yea. But those pesky satellite nerds keep finding it and posting the orb els.

Speculatively I think the XB-37 is a platform for miniaturization in LEO, I even had links a while back.

Consider the tech today in miniaturization of nearly everything electronic down to nano. The tech has arrived and the benefits are obvious, cost of deployment, hard to detect. Basketball sized surveillance satellites have stealth built in as product, the small pick-up-truck sized XB-37 bay can carry and deploy many of those as well as acting as one itself. The success of remote automation in space has few failures outside of launch related mishaps, which are rather rare for NASA the past decade. In fact NASA has zero beyond earth orbit remote automated space probe failures since 2000. The Atlas Mediums have a 100% success launch ratio and the expensive Heavy Lifts become unnecessary.

Now having a land able reusable mini Space Shuttle that can stay in LEO for 2/3rds of a year you have a LEO launch test–DoD economic–platform, doing a job men don't need to be sent to do.

Originally posted by jeichelberg
...but I do not know how you could track an object this small anyway...

I had wondered about how, say, NORAD, does that-- just read this: Wiki: US Space Surveillance Network

Assuming others can do likewise, whatever the little thing does, I imagine it is not sneaking up on anyone.

Kind of fun to then speculate on what and how it might do something unseen.

Do you suppose the X-37 B is a mystery to foreign governments or just the average citizen? Take the U2 for example. The U.S. knew about the U2 and the Soviets knew about the U2, but it was in the interests of both governments to keep it secret. Maybe something like that is going on with the X-37 B? Or maybe it's so boring they would rather not destroy the mystique. I imagine they are training worm astronauts for a secret Mars mission.