Air Force X-37B is a robotic mini-shuttle
This U.S. Air Force Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV, will be boosted into orbit atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas booster. Its mission is to demonstrate a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force.
The objectives of the OTV program include space experimentation, risk reduction and a concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.
The X-37B is the first vehicle since NASA’s shuttle orbiter with the ability to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis.
The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office is leading the Department of Defense’s Orbital Test Vehicle initiative. The mini-space plane is designed to orbit the Earth for a maximum of 270 days – although its time spent in space will depend on how well the vehicle performs its duties.
Based on NASA’s X-37 design, the unmanned OTV is designed for vertical launch to low Earth orbit altitudes where it can perform long duration space technology experimentation and testing.
Upon command from the ground, the robotic OTV will autonomously re-enter the atmosphere, descend and land horizontally on a runway. Its landing site is slated for Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with neighboring Edwards Air Force Base as a runway backup.
Here are the general characteristics of the X-37B mission:
Primary Mission: Testing reusable space vehicle
Prime Contractor: Boeing
Height: 9 feet, 6 inches (2.9 meters)
Length: 29 feet, 3 inches (8.9 meters)
Wingspan: 14 feet, 11 inches (4.5 meters)
Launch Weight: 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms)
Power: Gallium Arsenide Solar Cells with lithium-Ion batteries
Launch Vehicle: Lockheed-Martin Atlas V (501)
By LD/CSE