New unmanned spacecraft to launch in April

[unhappycamper]

The Air Force will launch an unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle next month.



New unmanned spacecraft to launch in April
Staff report
Posted : Thursday Mar 18, 2010 19:52:52 EDT

Next month, the Air Force will launch an unmanned spacecraft that can fly home and land on its own.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is an adaptation of NASA’s old X-37 program that started in 1999.

The craft is nearly 30 feet long and almost 10 feet tall, with a 14-foot, 11-inch wingspan. It could be used for intelligence gathering or delivering small satellites. For now, the Air Force says, the program objectives are “space experimentation, risk reduction and … development reusable space vehicle technologies.”

The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office in Washington has taken the lead on the X-37B initiative. The initial launch, on an Atlas V rocket, is scheduled for April 19 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.


Article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/03/airforce_x37b_031810w/



unhappycamper comment; Meet the Boeing X-37B:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-37B



X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle
See also: X-37B OTV-1
X-37B

On November 17, 2006 the U.S. Air Force announced it would develop the X-37B from the NASA X-37A. The Air Force version is designated X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV). The OTV program builds on industry and government investments by DARPA, NASA and the Air Force. The X-37B effort will be led by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and includes partnerships with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Boeing is the prime contractor for the OTV program.<6>

The Secretary of the Air Force states the OTV program will focus on "risk reduction, experimentation, and operational concept development for reusable space vehicle technologies, in support of long term developmental space objectives."<6>

The X-37B was originally scheduled for launch in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle, but following the Columbia accident, it was transferred to a Delta II 7920. It was subsequently transferred to the Atlas V following concerns over the spacecraft's aerodynamic properties during launch.<7>

The first flight of the X-37B is slated for April 20, 2010 on an Atlas V rocket from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.<8> The spacecraft will be placed into low Earth orbit for testing, then it will be de-orbited for landing. The landing is to occur on a runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California with Edwards Air Force Base as the alternate site.<9> The duration of the mission hasn't been announced, although an Air Force spokesperson has said the vehicle has a requirement to be on-orbit for up to 270 days.<8>



I'm sure this is cost effective as are all DoD programs. :sarcasm:

[SidDithers]

1. But just last week, I read here that Obama was defunding NASA...nt

Sid

[unhappycamper]

2. This is an Air Force project, not NASA. n/t

[SidDithers]

4. Not enough coffee in me yet...

thanks for the correction.

Sid

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Yeah, this is the Air Force, not NASA

They've taken up a projct that NASA dropped (under Bush, however).

It is easy to track the X-37's tumultuous history. NASA awarded the first X-37 contract to Boeing in July 1999, and the agency flew a series of visible atmopsheric tests on a scale model of the spaceplane in 2001. The X-37 began its transformation from a human spaceflight testbed to a military-run project when NASA shifted responsibility to DARPA in September 2004, a consequence of the space agency's new focus on lunar exploration.

But specific payloads for the Air Force's OTV program aren't so clear. Officials have denied interview requests on the project, and the military only releases information through written responses.

The X-37B's mission is to "demonstrate a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the United States Air Force," the military fact sheet says. "Objectives of the OTV program include space experimentation, risk reduction and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies."
...
"The X-37B has the requirement to be on-orbit up to 270 days," the Air Force spokesperson said. "Actual length for the first mission will depend on the meeting the mission objectives, which consists of checkout and performance characteristics of the spacecraft systems."

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av012/100225x37arrival/

[SidDithers]

5. Got it...

now :)

Sid