The robotic X-37B arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:22 a.m. yesterday (Nov. 12). The X-37B has been in orbit for 908 days, more than four months longer than any previous X-37B mission.
On the recently completed mission, the Boeing-built spacecraft also carried a service module, a first for the United States. The Space Force's X-37B programme
The X-37B looks similar to NASA's now-retired space shuttle, but it is significantly smaller, measuring just 29 feet from tip to tail. The space shuttle was 122 feet long and was piloted, while the X-37B is autonomous.
The US Space Force is known to have two X-37B vehicles, both provided by Boeing. So far, the team has launched six orbital missions, each denoted by the designation OTV ("Orbital Test Vehicle"):
OTV-1 was launched on April 22, 2010, and arrived on December 3, 2010. (duration 224 days).
OTV-2 runs from March 5, 2011, until June 16, 2012. (468 days).
OTV-3: December 11, 2012, to October 17, 2014 (674 days).
OTV-4: May 20th through May 7th, 2015 (718 days).
OTV-5: September 7, 2017, through October 27, 2019 (780 days).
OTV-6: From May 17, 2020, until November 12, 2022 (908 days).
The Space Force and Boeing say that the main purpose of the X-37B is to test things. The spacecraft lets researchers see how payloads work in space and then study them on Earth.
Many of these payloads are secret, as are the majority of the X-37B's actions; for example, the Space Force does not publicize the vehicle's orbit or tell us when each OTV mission will conclude.
However, military sources share details on some of the gear carried by the X-37B. We know, for example, that OTV-6 tested the U.S. Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module from the Naval Research Laboratory. The goal of this device, which is about the size of a pizza box, is to turn solar energy into microwaves that can then be sent to Earth. According to experiment team members, their efforts might help bring space-based solar power closer to reality.
OTV-6 also carried FalconSat-8, a satellite developed by students at the United States Air Force Academy. The Air Force Academy has its own five experimental payloads. According to Boeing personnel, the X-37B launched FalconSat-8 in October 2021, and the satellite is still in orbit today.
OTV-6 also carried out a few well-known NASA experiments. One study looked at how space radiation impacts plant seeds, while another looked at how different materials react to the space environment.
Even though OTV-6 set a new record for the length of a mission for the X-37B program, it didn't break the record for the most time spent in space.
Some Earth-observation and communications satellites, for example, may stay in Earth's orbit for a decade or more. Since November 2000, different crews of astronauts have lived on the International Space Station. Meanwhile, NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts have been working in interstellar space for more than 45 years.
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12 ноя 2022
