CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – The US military’s secretive X-37B robotic spacecraft took off from Florida on Thursday night for its seventh mission, the first to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of sending it into a higher orbit than ever before.
The Falcon Heavy, which consists of three liquid-fuel rocket cores strapped together, roared off its launch pad from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in a spectacular launch broadcast live on a SpaceX webcast.
The launch followed more than two weeks of false starts and delays caused by bad weather and unspecified technical issues, prompting ground crews to launch the spacecraft back to its hangar before resuming Thursday’s flight.
It comes two weeks after China’s own robotic spacecraft, known as Shenlong, or “Divine Dragon,” launched on its third mission to orbit since 2020, adding a new twist to the growing US-Sino rivalry in space.
The Pentagon has revealed some details about the X-37B mission, which is operated by the US Space Force under the military’s National Security Space Launch program.
The Boeing-made vehicle, about the size of a small bus and resembling a miniature space shuttle, is built to carry various payloads and conduct technological experiments on orbital flights for years.
The Boeing-made vehicle, about the size of a small bus and resembling a miniature space shuttle, is built to carry various payloads and conduct technological experiments on orbital flights for years. Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock The US military’s secret X-37B robotic spacecraft takes off on its seventh mission into orbit. REUTERS The side boosters of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket can be seen after stage separation. Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock The exhaust plume from the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket turns red at altitude as it launches. Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock
At the end of its mission, the craft descends back through the atmosphere to land on a runway like an airplane.
It has flown six previous missions since 2010, the first five of which were carried into orbit by Atlas V rockets from United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing ( BA.N ) and Lockheed Martin ( LMT.N ), and the most recent, in May 2020, in on the Falcon 9 booster provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Thursday’s mission marks the first launch aboard SpaceX’s more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, capable of carrying payloads heavier than the X-37B further into space, possibly into geosynchronous orbit, more than 22,000 miles (35,000 km) above Earth.
The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, was previously limited to flights in low Earth orbit, at altitudes below 1,200 miles (2,000 km).
This undated photo provided by the US Air Force shows the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. The secret plane was launched into space by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. REUTERS The boosters return during the liftoff of the US military’s secretive X-37B robotic spacecraft. Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock
New orbit and seed regime
The Pentagon did not say how high the spacecraft will fly this time.
But in a statement last month, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office said the mission, designated by the Space Force as USSF-52, would involve testing “new orbital regimes, experimenting with future domain awareness technologies.”
Such comments have led industry analysts and amateur space trackers to speculate that the X-37B may be bound for a highly elliptical orbit around Earth or even a path that could swing it around the moon, an area of space in which the Pentagon has taken a growing interest.
“Maybe this thing will go to the moon and drop a payload,” said Bob Hall, director of the space traffic monitoring firm COMSPOC, which analyzes the trajectories of orbital objects.
The Falcon Heavy, which consists of three liquid-fuel rocket cores strapped together, roars off its launch pad from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Reuters
The closer a spacecraft flies to the moon, the harder it is to return to Earth safely.
It was not clear from Thursday’s webcast, which SpaceX said it was blocking at the request of the military, was whether the X-37B reached its intended destination in space.
But the company later posted a photo of the launch on X’s social media platform with the caption: “Falcon Heavy Launches USSF-52 into orbit.”
The X-37B is also conducting NASA experiments to study how plant seeds are affected by prolonged exposure to the harsh radiation environment of space.
The ability to grow crops in space has huge implications for keeping astronauts nourished during future long-duration missions to the moon and Mars.
The closer a spacecraft flies to the moon, the harder it is to return to Earth safely. Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock
China’s equally secretive Shenlong was launched into space on December 14 by the Long March 2F rocket, a launch system less powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and believed to be limited to sending payloads into low-Earth orbit.
Still, Air Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman told reporters at an industry conference earlier this month he expected China to launch the Shenlong at the same time as the X-37B flight in what he suggested was a competitive move.
“These are the two most watched objects in orbit while they are in orbit. It may not be a coincidence that they are trying to match us in this time and sequence,” Saltzman said, according to a statement published in Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The planned duration of the latest X-37B mission has not been made public, but it will likely last until June 2026 or later, given the usual pattern of longer consecutive flights.
Its final mission remained in orbit for more than two years before landing in November 2022.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
