Air Force Space Planes

[Palmpilot]

Air Force spaceplane returns to Earth after 780-day mission

"An unpiloted Air Force X-37B spaceplane, one of two winged orbiters used to carry out classified research, made a surprise landing at the Kennedy Space Center early Sunday to close out a record 780-day mission. It was the fifth flight in the secretive Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) program, pushing total time aloft to 2,865 days."​

 

[Zeldman]

Not much of a secret anymore now, I guess the cat is out of the bag....

 

[jrcox19]

Not much of a secret anymore now, I guess the cat is out of the bag....

The secret isn't that it exists, the secret is what it's doing.

 

[cgrab]

My two favorite headlines
"We just learned of a secret...."
and
"If true, ...."

 

[wanttaja]

Not much of a secret anymore now, I guess the cat is out of the bag....

There's a whole HELL of a lot of stuff left in that bag....

Ron Wanttaja
Former bag occupier

 

[Palmpilot]

There's a whole HELL of a lot of stuff left in that bag....

Ron Wanttaja
Former bag occupier

I would HOPE so! I'm mainly interested in the technology, however. I had no idea that space planes were a reality.

 

[JOhnH]

I had no idea that space planes were a reality.

I wonder if Elon's StarMan is the pilot?

 

[Lachlan]

Space Force!

 

[Velocity173]

The thing has been flying for the AF for 9 years. It’s no secret.

 

[JOhnH]

The thing has been flying for the AF for 9 years. It’s no secret.

We know that. But we don’t know what it can do, or how well.

 

[Tarheelpilot]

We know that. But we don’t know what it can do, or how well.

It’s apparently really good at high speed free falling.

 

[Palmpilot]

Is it self-launching, or does it require help to get into orbit?

 

[nauga]

Is it self-launching, or does it require help to get into orbit?

It's boosted. There's enough publicly available info on the vehicle itself to get a pretty good idea of how it's used and what it's capable of. The payloads? Not so much.

Nauga,
and the whale rider

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Is it self-launching, or does it require help to get into orbit?

Rides on a rocket.
https://spacenews.com/air-force-x-37b-secret-spaceplane-lands-after-780-days-in-orbit/

 

[Velocity173]

It’s a satellite killer designed to disrupt GLONASS and BeiDou.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

the mission might have been secret....but the plane isn't.

 

[wanttaja]

It's boosted. There's enough publicly available info on the vehicle itself to get a pretty good idea of how it's used and what it's capable of. The payloads? Not so much.

The X-37's payload bay is about the size of a sheet of plywood, only a bit shorter. The depth is proportionately less.

It's not primarily intended to carry other satellites into orbit (although it certainly can), but there are a bunch of small payloads it can carry and use.

It's not man-rated, and obviously doesn't have a cockpit. Payload bay would probably be large enough to accept a human-sized capsule, and return the contents safely to Earth. But why? Pretty expensive flight, with no view and the need to buy something like a Delta to put you into orbit.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[SoCal RV Flyer]

The X-37's payload bay is about the size of a sheet of plywood, only a bit shorter. The depth is proportionately less.

Of course! It makes perfect sense now. One-hour shipping for Home Depot plywood deliveries.

Take that, Amazon drones!

 

[geezer]

Whataya mean, ! hour?

It was up there over two YEARS, before it arrived at its destination! All the ice cream melted!

 

[JOhnH]

It's a V-TAIL !!!
I knew it.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

It's a V-TAIL !!!
I knew it.

yup....all the cool ones are split tails.

 

[35 AoA]

It's a V-TAIL !!!
I knew it.

Good thing it's unmanned.....otherwise it would be killing doctors left and right

 

[JOhnH]

Good thing it's unmanned.....otherwise it would be killing doctors left and right

Just the ones that can't handle such an advanced and fast plane.

 

[NoHeat]

Rides on a rocket.
https://spacenews.com/air-force-x-37b-secret-spaceplane-lands-after-780-days-in-orbit/

And lands on the space shuttle runway in Florida.

I was unaware that runway was still in use.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Air Force spaceplane returns to Earth after 780-day mission

"An unpiloted Air Force X-37B spaceplane, one of two winged orbiters used to carry out classified research, made a surprise landing at the Kennedy Space Center early Sunday​

​

I hope it wasn't a surprise to the Air Force.

 

[wanttaja]

It was up there over two YEARS, before it arrived at its destination! All the ice cream melted!

Sublimated, more like.....

Ron Wanttaja

 

[James331]

It’s a satellite killer designed to disrupt GLONASS and BeiDou.

I remember when the chinese had a fit over it, that’s when I knew it was cool.