New US Military Spacecraft - X37B
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https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/top-secret-us-spacecraft-x-37b
But if the X-37B is a key tool in the US military’s push for space dominance, how exactly does it achieve that?
This is where things get murky. We know that the X-37B has so far flown seven missions, with its longest lasting two and a half years. The most recent, OTV-7, remained in orbit for 434 days.
The craft itself is launched atop a rocket but flies and lands autonomously (no crew, that we know, are inside). Onboard, there’s room to store experiments, some of which have been made public while others remain cloaked in secrecy.
For example, following its sixth flight, the Space Force announced that the X-37B had been testing a module designed to capture solar energy beyond Earth’s atmosphere and transmit power back to Earth as radio frequency microwave energy.
The X-37B is also capable of deploying satellites. During its sixth mission, it carried an experimental US Air Force satellite equipped with plasma thrusters – cue delighted shivers from sci-fi fans.
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