Nov 14, 2024 10:13 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 15, 2024 05:14 PM by C C.)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-new...180985425/
INTRO: Recently, the United States Space Force surprised space travel enthusiasts and professionals alike by revealing details about its mysterious spaceplane’s seventh mission. In a statement released on October 10, the agency announced that its Boeing-made X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle would conduct a series of unprecedented aerobraking maneuvers to change its orbital path around Earth. This month, Boeing Space said on social media that the procedure had begun.
“This first-of-a kind maneuver from the X-37B is an incredibly important milestone for the United States Space Force as we seek to expand our aptitude and ability to perform in this challenging domain,” B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said in the statement.
The news is a rare offering of information from the Space Force and Boeing, which are incredibly secretive about the X-37B’s activities. The craft launched on its first mission in 2010, but few details have been revealed about its highly classified purpose in space.
The newly described aerobraking maneuver allows the X-37B spaceplane to change its orbit by using the Earth’s atmospheric drag—the friction caused by molecules in the atmosphere. Normally, spacecrafts have to fire their thrusters to achieve a shift in orbit, which uses up propellant and thus can only be done a limited number of times, per Space.com’s Brett Tingley...
[...] Because of the way it conserves fuel, aerobraking could allow missions to last significantly longer, per Newsweek’s Tom Howarth....... (MORE - details)
INTRO: Recently, the United States Space Force surprised space travel enthusiasts and professionals alike by revealing details about its mysterious spaceplane’s seventh mission. In a statement released on October 10, the agency announced that its Boeing-made X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle would conduct a series of unprecedented aerobraking maneuvers to change its orbital path around Earth. This month, Boeing Space said on social media that the procedure had begun.
“This first-of-a kind maneuver from the X-37B is an incredibly important milestone for the United States Space Force as we seek to expand our aptitude and ability to perform in this challenging domain,” B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said in the statement.
The news is a rare offering of information from the Space Force and Boeing, which are incredibly secretive about the X-37B’s activities. The craft launched on its first mission in 2010, but few details have been revealed about its highly classified purpose in space.
The newly described aerobraking maneuver allows the X-37B spaceplane to change its orbit by using the Earth’s atmospheric drag—the friction caused by molecules in the atmosphere. Normally, spacecrafts have to fire their thrusters to achieve a shift in orbit, which uses up propellant and thus can only be done a limited number of times, per Space.com’s Brett Tingley...
[...] Because of the way it conserves fuel, aerobraking could allow missions to last significantly longer, per Newsweek’s Tom Howarth....... (MORE - details)