The US military plans to send its mysterious mini-shuttle X-37B back into space for a test flight in December. The reusable spacecraft will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 7 for its seventh mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
It was said to be the first time the X-37B had been launched into space on a ‘Falcon Heavy’. As with previous missions, the military officers responsible remain silent about the exact purpose and duration of the mission. It was only revealed that the mini-shuttle would be used as a testing ground for the launch of experimental payloads and their return to Earth.
It is unclear why a more powerful rocket is being used for the launch this time. For experts, an indication that the spacecraft is carrying heavier payloads or has a new hardware configuration.
The mini shuttle is only 8.8 meters long
The Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV for short) weighs almost five tons, is only 8.8 meters long and has a wingspan of 4.6 meters. The spacecraft, of which there are two examples, draws its energy from batteries and a deployable solar sail.
The mini version of NASA’s space shuttle last touched down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the OTV-6 mission on November 12, 2022, 908 days after launch and after nearly two and a half years in space.
Speculation about tests for weapons systems
So far, the U.S. Air Force has only reported on the takeoff and landing of the OTVs. All that was said about the missions was that new materials and technologies – for example the use of new ion engines – would be tested in space. This has fueled speculation that the mini-shuttle could be the precursor to a new kind of in-orbit weapons system, allowing the US to respond quickly in the event of a crisis.
Because the former civilian head of the U.S. Department of the Air Force declared at a security conference in June 2019 that the spacecraft was so agile and maneuverable “that America’s adversaries should go crazy,” the purpose of the small shuttle is even more debated. speculated.
The OTV project started in 1999
The Orbital Test Vehicle has been in the making for quite some time. The project was initially started in 1999 by the civilian US space agency NASA, and in 2004 the US military took over the project – together with the manufacturer of the mini-shuttle, the Boeing subsidiary Phantom Works.
Source: Krone
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