Atlas V rocket launches Air Force X-37B spaceplane from Cape Canaveral
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts an Air Force X-37B spaceplane into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, May 17, 2020.
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What kind of sensitive payload will be carried into space after the Space Force’s robotic X-37B orbital test vehicle launches again Sunday night?
What kind of secret missions will unmanned military spaceplanes perform 150 to 500 miles above the Earth’s surface?
And considering its last marathon flight lasted 908 days, how long will the black-and-white miniature space shuttle remain in orbit?
“This is a test that allows us to collect a large amount of data over a period of time in orbit in a relatively controlled environment in the cargo hold of spaceplane X-37B to see how well those sensors perform. platform. They are not affected by the radiation environment of space,” said Don Pratt, director of the Florida Institute of Technology Spaceport Graduate Center in Titusville.
“Then you can bring it back to Earth for further analysis, which is a huge advantage over just launching a satellite into orbit and collecting data from it, because at the end of the mission, , because there’s usually no way to do the following: ‘Get that satellite back,”’ Pratt said.
“So I think this is really a test platform to see how new technology works. One of the reasons the spaceplane has remained in operation for over a year is that there are enough “We need to demonstrate the performance of that technology and expose it to the space environment for long periods of time,” he said.
At 8:14 p.m. ET on Sunday, a triple-core SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, carrying Boeing’s 29-foot-long X-37B into orbit for its seventh top-secret mission. I plan to put it on the.
Will SpaceX also try to launch its next Starlink mission Sunday night from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station? stay tuned. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has issued a rocket launch navigation warning effective from 11pm Sunday to 3:31am Monday. This reflects recent Falcon 9 launch times. However, SpaceX has not yet announced it publicly.
Details about Sunday’s X-37B mission:
- Launch window: 10 minutes.
- position: Pad 39A.
- Booster landing: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- live broadcast: Begins at floridatoday.com/space 90 minutes before launch.
more: Mysterious military X-37B spaceplane launches from Kennedy Space Center on Falcon Heavy
“Pre-launch work for the next national security space launch is nearly complete. This is the third Falcon Heavy used to launch a national security payload,” said Brig. Adm. Christine Panzenhagen, who commands Space Launch Delta 45, said in a press release Thursday.
“While our teams have done a great job preparing for this important launch, we are doing even more behind the scenes. We continue to refine our processes to make this happen,” Panzenhagen said.
After stage separation, the Falcon Heavy’s twin boosters return to the ground in Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, triggering a sonic boom over the Space Coast.
Space Force officials declined requests for further comment on the mission Sunday. A Nov. 8 press release simply stated that the spaceplane would enable “several cutting-edge experiments,” including:
- Operate reusable spaceplanes in new orbital regimes.
- Experiments on future space domain recognition technology
- We are investigating the effects of harsh radiation on plant seeds provided by NASA and collecting data for future long-term manned space missions.
“If you recall, in the early days of the Space Shuttle, certainly before the Challenger disaster, the military was running secret missions on the shuttle, and of course it was only operational for about two weeks.” said Pratt.
“But this was probably a prelude to this kind of functionality that could be performed using our new technology in a robotic way, without the need for humans,” he said.
The X-37B last launched in May 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. During that mission, the spacecraft carried the Naval Research Laboratory’s solar-powered radio frequency antenna module experiment. Two NASA experiments studying the effects of radiation. FalconSat-8 is a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
The autonomous spaceplane spent a record 908 days in low Earth orbit before ending its mission in November 2022, creating a sonic boom over central Florida before landing at KSC’s Launch and Landing Facility. Did.
“Another thing: Traditionally, spaceplanes have low G-forces on atmospheric re-entry. So this could be damaged on re-entry inside a capsule, which is subject to higher G-forces on return. “It brings the atmosphere back to Earth, which is good for any sensitive technology,” Pratt said.
For the latest launch schedule updates at the Cape, please visit: floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
rick neil He’s a space reporter for FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his story, go to click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1