The X-37B Robot Space Plane’s Flight Gets Extension
The United States Air Force launched an unmanned space plane in March 5 that was designed to fly for 270 days, but now it seems that the military plans to extend its orbit by at least another 9 months.
“We initially planned for a nine month mission, which we are roughly at now, but we will continue to extend the mission as circumstances allow,” said Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre, the spacecraft’s systems program director, in a recent statement. “Keeping X-37 in orbit will provide us with additional experimentation opportunities and allow us to extract the maximum amount value of the mission.”
The X-37B’s mission in space has remained top secret. The U.S. Air Force claims it was built to conduct orbital space experiments; however, analysts explained that the space plane is capable of much more.
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Major Tracy Bunko, a secretary for the Air Force, recently commented on the spacecraft and experimentation being performed.
“Though we cannot predict when that will be complete, we are learning new things about the vehicle every day, which makes the mission a very dynamic process,” said Bunko.
Some analysts believe that the X-37B could be used as an orbital spy plane or for tampering with enemy satellites. It is also can haul supplies to the International Space Station.
Boeing built the plane at its Huntington Beach facility. The company’s program manager Art Grantz proposed to build a bigger X-37C model in October. This plane could transport astronauts to ISS and save NASA the $50 million per seat rate it pays to do so on Russian Soyuz rockets.
The Air Force predicts that the X-37B could remain in orbit for at least another 9 months before its fuel and power deplete.
