Air Force finally has a replacement for the SR-71 .. XB37B spacecraft completes 7 month mission..

[JohnWxy]

....lands autonomously.



huffington post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/03/x-37b-spacecraft-returns-_n_791579.html

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. military's secretive X-37B unmanned spaceplane slipped out of orbit and landed itself in early morning darkness Friday at a California airbase after a successful maiden flight that lasted more than seven months, the Air Force said.

The stubby-winged, robotic craft fired its engine to begin re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and autonomously landed at 1:16 a.m. PST at coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles

Range safety officers were on hand to track its descent over the Pacific and activate a destruct mechanism if the landing needed to be aborted. There were no immediate reports of any sonic booms being heard.

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Payton suggested the X-37B would be useful for rapidly putting many small satellites into orbit, with a turnaround time measured at 10-to-15 days or less, operating more like an SR-71 spyplane than a routine space launch vehicle.

[derby378]

1. Was this an Area 51 project, or did it come from somewhere else?

Just curious...

[JohnWxy]

4. Built by Boeing. First Drop Test done out or Edwards (southern CA).

There may have been some testing in Nevada. NIce thing about '-51' is if you have a major problem you can destroy the test vehicle and you don't have to worry so much about pieces hitting somebody.... or being picked up by somebody before authorized personnel can recover it.

[newblewtoo]

2. But when I

drew pictures that looked like that in second grade the art teacher shook her head, the other kids just laughed. Guess I was ahead of my time. That is even more ugly than the shuttle.

[JohnWxy]

5. hey, look him/her up on FB and send them a picture with msg: "I TOLD you so!"

[LongTomH]

3. Replacement for SR71? Not really likely!

Sorry but, the Boeing X-37B Space Plane isn't capable of achieving orbit on it's own. Originally, it was designed to be carried to orbit in the shuttle payload bay; but, that was abandoned and an Atlas V launcher was used to orbit the current test item.

The X-37, in all its forms, may be used as a reconnaissance vehicle; but, the use of an expendable launcher like Atlas V or Delta IV limit it to operation from Vandenberg AFB or Canaveral (more likely Vandenberg, since it's now a military project.). It also doesn't have the maneuverability or linger capability of the SR71 or U2.

Most likely the SR71 and U2 will be supplanted by a new generation of recon drones with stealth capability.

[Billy Burnett]

6. Like this?

[JohnWxy]

7. the '-71' never did much 'lingering' when it was being used. But taking a pass every 90 minutes

ain't bad. NOte what Gary Payton said: "the X-37B would be useful for rapidly putting many small satellites into orbit, with a turnaround time measured at 10-to-15 days or less, operating more like an SR-71 spyplane than a routine space launch vehicle."





I recognize the value of stealth A/C but what I was thinking of is the speed of the 71. In order to top it they came up with a space plane!






I know there is talk about the "Aurora" or some other ramjet variant but I don't know if such a system ever became operational. I have to wonder if the spaceplane concept, along with technical difficulties(time at hypersonic speeds), may have trumped it.