US military’s secretive X-37B spaceplane is ready for launch to higher orbit

SpaceX workers prepared once more on Thursday to launch the military’s top-secret X-37B robot spaceplane on its seventh mission, which will be the first time it will be launched atop a rocket that is capable of carrying it to a higher orbit than it has ever been before. This comes after weeks of false starts and delays.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch during the nighttime hours from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, which is located on the Atlantic coast of Florida. The launch window will begin at 8:07 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (0107 GMT Friday) and run for ten minutes.

At the beginning of this month, three launch countdowns were canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions and unidentified technical concerns. As a result, ground technicians were forced to return the spacecraft to its hangar before proceeding with its most recent attempt to launch it.

Two weeks ago, China’s reusable robot spaceplane, the Shenlong, or “Divine Dragon,” was launched on its third voyage to orbit since 2020. This new development adds a new dimension to the rising competition between the United States and China in space exploration.

According to the most recent weather forecast for Thursday’s flight, there is an eighty percent likelihood that the launch circumstances will be good.

The United States Department of Defense has not published many specifics on the X-37B mission, which the United States Space Force is carrying out as part of the National Security Space Launch program of the United States military.

On long-duration orbital trips, the vehicle, which Boeing manufactured, is about the size of a compact bus and resembles a miniature space shuttle. It is designed to release a variety of payloads and undertake technological experiments. The ship will descend through the atmosphere in a manner comparable to that of an airplane after its mission to land on a runway.

It has completed six previous flights since 2010, the first five of which used Atlas V rockets from United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing (BA.N.) and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N.). Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which makes and operates Falcon 9 boosters, carried out the most recent mission in May 2020.

The next mission would be the first to be launched atop SpaceX’s more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, which is capable of transporting payloads that are much heavier than those carried by the X-37B more deeply into space, maybe even into geosynchronous orbit, which is located more than 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth.

The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, has been limited to flights in low-Earth orbit, defined as missions that take place at altitudes lower than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).

The phrase “NEW ORBITAL REGIMES AND SEEDS.”
The Pentagon has not disclosed the space plane that would travel on this particular mission. However, in a statement released a month ago, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office stated that mission No. 7 will entail testing “new orbital regimes and experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies.”

In addition, the X-37B is carrying out a NASA experiment examining the effects of extended exposure to the harsh environment of radiation in space on plant seeds. There are significant ramifications for the potential to develop crops in space, particularly about providing nourishment for humans during future extended journeys to the moon and Mars.

A launch mechanism called Long March 2F, less potent than SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and restricted to carrying payloads to low-Earth orbit, was used to carry China’s Shenlong spacecraft into space on December 14. Shenlong is also a highly secretive spacecraft.

Nevertheless, Space Force General B. Chance Saltzman told reporters at an industry conference earlier this month that he anticipated China would launch Shenlong around the same time as the upcoming X-37B mission. He noted that this would be a competitive move on China’s part.

“Our spaceplane is at the center of the Chinese government’s intense attention. In comments published in Air & Space Forces Magazine, a publication focusing on aerospace in the United States, Saltzman stated that “we are extremely interested in theirs.”

When they are in orbit, these two objects are among the most closely observed objects in orbit. The fact that they are attempting to mirror us in terms of time and sequencing is probably not a coincidence, as he stated earlier.

There has been no public announcement on the length of time that the most recent X-37B mission is scheduled to last; nevertheless, it will likely continue until June 2026 or later, given the trend of flights that are getting longer and longer.

Over over two years, the last mission lingered in orbit before finally touching down again in November 2022.