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Space The Military United States

First Look At Secretive X-37B Space Plane In Orbit (space.com) 43

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:3, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Saturday February 22, 2025 @02:32AM (#65186599) Journal

    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:Scale model? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Zak3056 ( 69287 ) on Saturday February 22, 2025 @08:17AM (#65186801) Journal

        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.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        You misspelled 'Space Farce'. So far the only thing I've seen from them is that they've made some contractors really rich, which I think was the whole goal.

  • 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.

    • Benefitted from decades of Shuttle flights (Score:4, Insightful)

      by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Saturday February 22, 2025 @05:36AM (#65186711)

      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.

    • 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

      • Sure, iteration is an important part of development of any kind of engineering project. But sometimes that kind of iteration is not possible. What then? You need to do a different kind of engineering, using simulations, scale models, subsystem studies, and so on. Cover everything you can think of, with what you know how to do.

        The very first space-shuttle flight was manned. Let that sink in.

        Space probes that land on the moons of the outer giant planets can't really be developed with fail-many-times iteration

        • Good point.

          I suppose this is iterating on the general concept of a space plane, as opposed to a specific one. Though I do wonder if they could have iterated on the shuttle a bit more when it turned out to be very costly to prep it after a flight.

          • As Richard Feynman said in his post-Challenger report, NASA departed from its usual development pattern when it created the shuttle. Roughly, that pattern had been: (a) design the system; (b) design the parts for the system; (c) test the parts; (d) build the system with the parts; and (e) test the system.

            Feynman pointed out that NASA (and contractors) glossed over step (c) above when it created the shuttle. That led to all the maintenance issues you alluded to.

      • This format is perfect for the mission. It is put in orbit as a payload (donâ(TM)t matter what launches it). It stays in space with random orbits as a reusable sensor platform (thatâ(TM)s what it is). It lands after a few years and gets a new sensor package and rinse and complete. A lot cheaper than a static spy satellite launch with tech that remains static forever

    • 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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      Russia's Buran and China's unmanned Haoloong use the same form factor, because physics is the same no matter who's making the thing.

      The Pentagram's space plane has been around for a while, first launched in 2010, before all the experienced engineers were replaced with cheap contractors.

  • 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

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

  • Operation craft still using the X designation? (Score:3)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Saturday February 22, 2025 @08:46AM (#65186825)

    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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