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Space The Military United States

First Look At Secretive X-37B Space Plane In Orbit (space.com) 33

Posted by BeauHD from the top-secret dept.
The U.S. Space Force released the first-ever public image of its secretive X-37B space plane in orbit, captured during its ongoing seventh mission that launched on December 28, 2023. Space.com reports: The photo, released on Thursday (Feb. 20), was taken by a camera onboard the X-37B while the secretive space plane orbited high above the African continent. One of the plane's solar panels is visible on the left side of the photo, while what appears to be its open payload bay is visible along the top edge. The vehicle has been in orbit for well over a year now, having launched on its seventh mission on Dec. 28, 2023 atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

And now, the X-37B has notched another milestone with the Space Force's release of this photo, the first-ever image of this space plane in orbit that has been shown to the public. While the photo contains scant details about the vehicle and what it's currently testing, it offers a look at Earth far in the background, revealing just how high the vehicle is flying on its seventh mission. We've gotten only one other glimpse at the X-37B in orbit prior to this. During the livestream of its most recent launch, a brief shot of the spacecraft deploying from Falcon Heavy's upper stage was seen while its service module was still attached.

First Look At Secretive X-37B Space Plane In Orbit More | Reply

First Look At Secretive X-37B Space Plane In Orbit

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  • Shit, (Score:1, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 )

    Now they have kill us.

  • Scale model? (Score:3)

    by Pravetz-82 ( 1259458 ) on Saturday February 22, 2025 @03:26AM (#65186633)
    This plane looks to me like a scale model of something bigger. A new shuttle ?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      I think the X37-B is more what the military / intelligence community really wanted from the original Shuttle, but they were forced into a compromise design required to also let it build and service the ISS and undertake other LEO work, with only a middling cross-range capability compared to what they wanted. What struck me about the photo is how small the Earth is in the frame compared to the usual stuff you see from the ISS, etc., implying that the X37-B seems to be capable of routinely operating in much
      • The forth flight was in a highly elliptical orbit, 323 x 38,000km. That sort of orbit is good for changing orbits using less fuel. The Russians hate this thing because the orbit can change dramatically and they have blind spots in their monitoring network.

        • The earth has a radius of about 6,400 km. So, even at an apogee of 38,000 km, it will still look fricking huge. As I said in another post in this thread, I think the small size of the Earth is a wide-angle lens effect.

      • What struck me about the photo is how small the Earth is in the frame compared to the usual stuff you see from the ISS, etc., implying that the X37-B seems to be capable of routinely operating in much higher orbits than most (all?) of the former Shuttle missions as well.

        I saw that, and chalked it up to a fisheye-effect from the camera lens. In order to photograph the hull of the ship from up close, you need a wide-angle lens that will make the Earth look smaller and more distant, even though it isn't.

    • It probably is. I'd not trust *anything* from the new "SpaceForce" leaders, except a lot of money spent in different Congressional districts to "pork barrel" their budget. It's a big factor in how the Space Shuttle was such a disaster.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

        Congratulations, you're a fucking loon. The X-37 was doing atmospheric tests twenty years ago and has been operational for fifteen years, and the two vehicles have combined for a total of more than ten years in space (shortest flight 224 days, longest 908). The Space Force has been around since 2019.

        • But still. Space Force uniforms look like the moon surface. It's ridiculous and has made an absolute joke out of our military just so Orange Man can have his celebrity status as a President who started a new military branch.

          • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

            by scalptalc ( 6477834 )
            Alien: Your world was so beautiful. Look at what you've done.
            Liberal: We tried but it was all Orange Man's doing. He's destroying us.
            Alien: How long has all this destruction been going on?
            Liberal: Since our time 2016.
            Alien: ...
            Alien: We have visited before, looking for wisdom but you have been like this for so many of your orbits.
            Liberal: Nooo, it's Orange Man. He is bad!
            Alien: ...
            Alien (to others): We're leaving, now. Disrupt them on the way out, maybe the deer will return. They're cute.

          • Are you looking at the Steve Carell comedy and thinking that's real?

            Invoking Poe's Law.

  • I was surprised to see that the X-37b is a similar form factor as the space shuttle, when the space shuttle has so many known drawbacks. Then I noticed it was designed by Boeing.

    Boeing? In the modern iteration of Boeing, anything from Boeing will be overbudget, overpromised, underdelivered; and if it is delivered at all, will break in mysterious ways. That company is very good at extracting money from the government. It's not that Boeing execs have lost touch with reality, it's that they think they are pl
    • Well, If this jaunt is in the USAID budget, then I expect the hidden subsidies will get the chop. If it was measuring global warming or the like, then funding will be doubly chopped. It is said every time it is launched, the price of eggs rise again.
      • Boeing is known to overcharge for things [npr.org].

        The CEO of Boeing is busy sweet-talking Elon Musk [reuters.com] to make sure they don't get harmed by Doge.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          The so-called "Department" Of Government Efficiency is not a real department -- real departments are recognized by federal statute, get dedicated funding, and are headed by a member of the president's cabinet. Trump's Naming Nazis will require that DOGE be renamed so it does not impersonate a department, probably to the Federal Agency for Financial Oversight.

    • I was surprised to see that the X-37b is a similar form factor as the space shuttle, when the space shuttle has so many known drawbacks.

      There's nothing wrong with form factor, and IIRC some compromises where made in the Space Shuttle due to conflicting requirement from NASA and the Pentagon.

      More importantly, think of the Space Shuttle as a v1,0 and the X-37 as a v2.0. The X-37 included a lot of lessons learned from decades of Space Shuttle flights.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Zocalo ( 252965 )
        X-37B is what the Pentagon originally wanted the shuttle to do for them; get beyond LEO and have large cross-range and time-in-orbit capability. Pretty sure lessons were learnt and the technology will have certainly advanced, but if they hadn't been forced into a single project with NASA I expect they'd have built something awfully similar in appearance and capability to what they currently have.

    • Yeah the space shuttle had many known drawbacks, but so did the falcon rocket: there were quite a few complete and partial failures before they figured everything out. The key to improving a good idea (and I think reusable space vehicles is a good idea) is it iterate repeatedly.

      This is an iteration of the shuttle concept. Don't forget that the shuttle also had unique upsides which haven't been repeated with other platforms.

      That's not too say that the x37b is good or bad. I don't know, but one and done isn't

    • The "space plane" form factor is to provide good cross range so they can do covert single-orbit missions taking off and landing within the contiguous United States. It gives less opportunity to track the mission profile and hence work out what it's likely to have been doing.

  • We all know that this thing is secretly taking trips back and forth to Zeta Reticuli doing interstellar trade with the Greys. It has something to do with Eisenhower's agreement in the 50s at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. The Reptilians emerged from the Hollow Earth and have set up trade relations. Elon Musk is their ambassador. Those large radio bursts that radio astronomers keep detecting? That's when it goes in and out of warp. They can't fool us; we know the truth! We've seen that big flash when the S

  • That ship can get significantly further from earth than I expected.

    • I know that's at least partially a joke, but I would be very interested in finding out this thing's orbital profile. They do keep calling this thing a space plane, so I do kind of wonder if they're trying to design something that can somehow take off conventionally, rather than on top of a rocket. With all the work they're apparently doing with hypersonic flight, I have to think that has something to do with it. But does anyone really know what the USAF is trying to accomplish with this? (Disclaimer: No, I

      • I know that's at least partially a joke, but I would be very interested in finding out this thing's orbital profile.

        I'd expect it could reach a geosynchronous position with payload and maintain station for a year in case it needs to threaten someone with a "rod from god". :-)

    • Was thinking same. Is it crewed? Or remote controlled? The sixth mission was 908 days according to the article... must be remote control then ...

  • Maybe the next version should get a U designation for utility? It's mission appears to be that of a delivery vehicle.

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