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You can not keep something completely secretive when it flies again and again around the planet. Although no one has any idea what the US Air Force's X-37B space plane (or orbital test vehicle or OTV) is doing in Low Earth Orbit, the satellite tracking of Astrophotographer Ralf Vandebergh paid off when he saw her in the air after months of robotic spaceship hunting.
Vandebergh saw the space plane for the first time in May, before disappearing unexpectedly from its orbit. The efforts of a network of amateur satellite observers have helped him find him recently – and he now has photographic evidence.
"It's really a small object, even at only 186 miles altitude, so do not expect the level of detail of the actual Space Shuttle's ground imagery," Vandebergh told Space.com at About the vehicle, which looks like a mini-me from NASA's retired space shuttle. "We can recognize a little nose, payload bay and tail of this mini-shuttle, with even a smaller detail sign."
The two reusable X-37B vehicles in the fleet were built by Boeing, so think about it the next time you go to an airport. They were originally funded by the DARPA (Advance Defense Research Projects Agency), before the program was transferred to the air force in 2004. The space plane of 29 feet long measures 9.6 feet in height, with a wingspan of about 15 feet and a launch mass of 11,000 pounds. Solar cells with gallium arsenide and lithium-ion batteries feed it into orbit. What we do know about its payload rating is that the payload bay measures 7 feet by 4 feet and can accommodate a robotic arm.
So, what is the X-37B doing there? It's not part of the Space Force … for the moment. What we do know is that this mission is the fifth flight, or OTV-5, of the Air Force OTV program. The 3rd Air Force Space Command Space Exploration Squadron (resembling something of a futuristic spy film) at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado provides mission control for these flights. In addition to the X-37Bs, this squadron manages space demonstrations, experiments, scouts, information on objects overflown over the Earth, and other information related to space control.
Does this mean that the OTV is trying to have an eye on the Earth while it looks both down and up? Perhaps. The Air Force has published reports that the OTV-5 will be launched in the most inclined orbit that one of these vehicles has taken. This still does not give any idea of its payload.
The only payload of the OTV-5 that has ever been declassified is ASETS-II (Advanced Integrated Thermal Distributor), which tested the life of experimental electronics developed by the Research Laboratory. American Air Force (AFRL) in space.
As far as we know, the X-37B could be up there for some time, because the duration of the mission is also classified. The only thing floating on the Internet is that OTV-6 is scheduled to take off this year from Space Launch Complex-41 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Maybe you'll catch that one when you look at the sky.
(via LiveScience)
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