by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will return to the skies Thursday evening, and this time it’s launching a mysterious spacecraft for the US military that will conduct cutting-edge research.
The rocket is scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 pm ET, carrying the military’s X-37B spaceplane — which is unmanned and operates independently — to unprecedented heights. The launch will be broadcast live on the SpaceX website.
However, it is not clear exactly where the space plane is going.
The X-37B’s activities in space have long been the subject of interest and speculation in the space community as amateur enthusiasts race to track its whereabouts and share theories about its activities.
Resembling a miniature NASA space shuttle with blacked out windows, the reusable and fully autonomous X-37B is known to have researched concepts such as relaunching solar energy from space for use back on Earth and study the effects of radiation on the seeds used. grow food.
And this mission – the seventh trip to space for the X-37B plane – is likely to be more interesting than earlier flights.
A powerful journey
This launch is the first time the space plane has taken a ride on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, one of the most powerful operational rockets in the world.
Previously, the X-37B launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle and an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
The Falcon Heavy produces more thrust than those two rockets combined.
The launch by the Falcon Heavy could indicate that X-37B is destined for a more distant orbit, perhaps even to the moon or Mars, suggested Paul Graziani, CEO of COMSPOC, a company dedicated to objects to track in space.
If it travels much deeper into the cosmos than earlier flybys, it could be much more difficult for astronauts on Earth to determine where the vehicle is.
If the military doesn’t want people to track the X-37B, Graziani added, the vehicle can be hidden in sunlight or in a variety of other ways — including changing its position to often. The X-37B has proven on previous flights that it is capable of performing numerous maneuvers in space.
COMSPOC will attempt to search for the vehicle if the spacecraft ends up in geosynchronous orbit, which is located about 22,400 miles (36,000 kilometers) from Earth and is where most of the giant communications satellites operate. Geosynchronous orbit is where the company points its sensors to track satellites, said Graziani and Bob Hall, COMSPOC’s director of operations integration.
“I think it’s one of the most interesting things that’s happened in space in a long time, whatever it’s going to do,” Graziani said of the X-37B launch.
Space technology innovations
The X-37B allows the United States to conduct experiments to understand how to improve ongoing and future space operations and push the limits of what is possible, according to Gen’s statement. B. Chance Saltzman, chief executive of space operations.
Among the research on board this mission is a NASA experiment that aims to find ways to sustain astronauts on future deep space missions. Called Seeds-2, it will “expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight” and build on research carried out on previous X-37B missions.
Learning how to grow food in the harsh, soilless environment of outer space could be vital for astronauts on long missions to the moon or beyond – places where fresh supplies are harder to deliver.
It is unclear how long the spacecraft will spend in orbit for this period, although each X-37B flight has historically been longer than the last.
The last trip to space for the autonomous X-37B took place in November 2022 after the spacecraft logged nearly 909 consecutive days in space. During that sixth mission, as CNN previously reported, the space plane carried out experimental technology designed by the US Navy to convert solar energy and transmit it back to earth, according to the military.
The X-37B has already spent more than 3,700 days in space on other uncrewed missions. When it returns to Earth, it will land on a runway, like an airplane swooping down from the skies.
China’s challenge
This launch comes after a delay of more than two weeks. SpaceX was happy to retire on December 10th. The launch was aborted twice due to weather and problems with the ground pad before SpaceX abruptly delayed the mission indefinitely to “perform an additional system check.”
But during the downtime, China – which the US government considers its main competitor in the modern space race – put its own secret spacecraft into orbit.
Little is known about the spacecraft from China. Some in the industry speculate that it is a doppelganger of the X-37B in form and function, although no official photos of the vehicle have been released.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that the stealthy spacecraft launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket.
The agency’s post only added that the vehicle will test reusable space technology and conduct unspecified science experiments “for the peaceful use of space” during its stay in space.
It is not clear how long the Chinese space plane will spend in orbit.
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