Spacecraft – U.S. Space Force X-37B Finishes Seventh Mission – Part 1 of 2 Parts

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The U.S. Space Force said Thursday that after more than nine months in an unusual, highly elliptical orbit, the U.S. military’s X-37B spaceplane will soon begin dipping its wings into Earth’s atmosphere to lower its altitude before coming back to Earth for a runway landing. The X-37B is also called the Orbital Test Vehicle
     The aerobraking maneuvers will utilize a series of passes through the upper fringes of the atmosphere to gradually reduce its speed with aerodynamic drag while expending minimal fuel. This reduction in velocity will bring the apogee, or high point, of the X-37B’s orbit closer to Earth.
     The Space Force called the aerobraking a “novel space maneuver” and said it was intended to allow the X-37B to “safely dispose of its service module components in accordance with recognized standards for space debris mitigation.”
     The reusable Boeing-built X-37B spaceplane is designed to land like an aircraft on a runway. The spaceplane service module, mounted to the rear of the vehicle, carries additional payloads. At the end of the mission, the X-37B will jettison the disposable service module before reentry. The Space Force doesn’t want this section of the spacecraft to maintain in its current high-altitude orbit and become a piece of space junk.
     The Space Force said, “Once the aerobrake maneuver is complete, the X-37B will resume its test and experimentation objectives until they are accomplished, at which time the vehicle will deorbit and execute a safe return as it has during its six previous missions”.
     The Space Force has identified mobility in orbit as a critical focus for its next-generation space missions. This mobility would allow satellites to more freely move between altitudes and orbital inclinations than they can today. Commanders don’t want a spacecraft’s movements to be constrained by the amount of fuel it carries. They want satellites to “maneuver without regret.”
     Space Force leaders have been discussing in-orbit refueling, more efficient propulsion technologies, and other ways to achieve this end. Aerobraking is another way to reduce the altitude of a spacecraft’s orbit without using precious propellant.
     General Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations said, “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.”
      Space Force officials did not say when the X-37B spaceplane will end its mission, which began on December 28th with a launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The Space Force also did not say what orbit the X-37B will end up in after the aerobraking maneuvers. The spaceplane will presumably settle into a low-Earth orbit, where all of its previous missions were flown.
    There are currently two X-37Bs in the Pentagon’s inventory. The spaceplanes have solar arrays to generate electricity and carry enough fuel to remain in orbit for years. The longest X-37B flight to date lasted more than nine hundred and eight days. The vehicles have cargo bay doors that open in space. The X-37B’s cargo bay is about the size of a pickup truck bed. The spacecraft measures twenty-nine feet long, which is about a quarter the length of a NASA space shuttle orbiter. It is not designed to carry passengers.
Please read Part 2 next
United States Space Force