Secrecy Tightens for X-37B

The recent landing of the latest X-37B robot spaceplane mission has been less visible to outsiders than any previous mission. The US Air Force has released photos of the spacecraft taken soon after its return. They show that the vehicle seems to be in fairly good condition after its longest flight ever, which extended for well over two years. The photos also show that the spacecraft has no visible features that would distinguish it from other spacecraft launched in this program, and in some ways make it hard to know exactly which one of the identical X-37B vehicles was used on this mission. We can probably judge that the mission was successful, but we are still not entirely sure of what the spacecraft was doing in orbit. Analysts have been speculating on the program for years, and have never been successful in penetrating the veil of secrecy surrounding the project. While the project itself is an amazing feat of technology, kudos must be extended to the team behind the scenes, who have managed to keep so much under wraps for so long. The existence of X-37B is no secret, and much has been officially released into the public domain. But there is an ongoing trend of tightening secrecy for the X-37B. In the past, we were given detailed images of the spacecraft being encapsulated in its payload fairing for launch, and then treated to nice video and images of its landing. That changed for recent missions, when pre-launch imagery of the spacecraft was not released. At the time, this analyst speculated that something had changed with the hardware, and this needed to be concealed.

The theory was that some form of instrument or sensor target had been added to the interface between the spacecraft and its launch vehicle, which would be used in some sort of interactions between the X-37B and the final launch stage shortly after launch.

The fact that the US Air Force had no problems with releasing full views of the spaceplane after landing suggested that any sensitive parts were on the rocket and not the X-37B itself.

This time, it's different. Admittedly, we still have photos of the spacecraft after landing, but they are far more restricted than ever before. The US Air Force Web site and an affiliated site contain just two images of the latest landing. No video of the landing has been released, either, which is also a departure from earlier trends.

Curiously, the images do not give any proper views of the rear of the spacecraft. By not showing certain things, the USAF is hinting that something unusual is there.

What could it be? This analyst suggests that some sort of calibration target is pasted to the rear of the X-37B. It was presumably photographed by sensors on the rocket soon after the spaceplane separated from it. This suggests that cameras or other sensors are being tested for close inspections of other satellites. T

hat being said, this analyst does not believe that any X-37B mission has ever made a close inspection of any foreign satellite, despite speculation elsewhere.

An alternative theory could be that there is a mounting bracket for a sub-satellite that was deployed from X-37B at some point in its mission. Such a satellite would be very small, and would presumably be in close proximity to the spaceplane. Thus, it could be hard to track or detect it.

What really lies at the rear of the spacecraft? We may never know until this program is declassified, and we could be waiting a long time for that.

US Air Force's X-37B space plane marks 400 days in orbit

The US Air Force's unmanned X-37B space plane has passed its 400-day mark, inching its way toward setting a new flight duration record for the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) mission. The spacecraft, the fifth of its kind, was initially rocketed into orbit on September 7, 2017, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, according to Space.com. All previous OTV missions established new flight records, with the fourth spacecraft spending 718 days in orbit. Though details of the space plane are kept on a need-to-know basis by officials, it has been reported that the craft is carrying in its payload an Advanced Structurally-Embedded Thermal Spreader. In August, the space plane was spotted by Marco Langbroek, a Netherlands-based satellite tracker. Langbroek previously told Space.com that X-37B was flying at a very low altitude, somewhere between 193 and 202 miles up. "Basically, only one type of object fits this: X-37B," he said of the craft he observed. "Previous X-37B missions we tracked also orbited at such very low altitudes. The object also has a similar brightness to previous OTV missions." Langbroek works alongside a small group that tracks the plane's path.

Although it's unclear where the OTV-5 will land once its mission comes to a close, website Space Flight Insider reported that it's likely to land at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida, the same location where OTV-4 touched down in May 2017.

SpaceX's new rocket scores big satellite launch contract

llon Musk's SpaceX just won a major $130 million contract to launch a US Air Force satellite into orbit, the military branch announced Friday. The contract, which is the fifth awarded under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, will put an Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)-52 satellite into orbit in fiscal year 2020, Los Angeles Air Force Base announced Thursday. Further details about the satellite remain classified. The Falcon Heavy rocket that will carry the payload will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the first such contract SpaceX has received using the Falcon Heavy, which made its maiden flight in February 2018. "On behalf of all of our employees, I want to thank the Air Force for certifying Falcon Heavy, awarding us this critically important mission, and for their trust and confidence in our company," said SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell in a statement. "SpaceX is pleased to continue offering the American taxpayer the most cost-effective, reliable launch services for vital national security space missions."

SpaceX beat out competitors United Launch Alliance, a joint competitor formed by defense giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing, with an offer to do the same work for tens of millions fewer dollars, Fortune reported. The company first smashed ULA's monopoly of the field in 2016.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. Its Falcon Heavy rocket is a modification of the company's earlier Falcon 9 partially reusable rocket. While the Falcon 9 can lift around 25 tons into low Earth orbit, the Heavy can boost a hefty 70 tons into space. While it was hoped the Falcon Heavy would be ready "in a couple of years" in 2009, its maiden flight was continually delayed by testing problems and the catastrophic failure of other rockets using the same or similar parts as the Falcon Heavy, only flying for the first time in early 2018.