Air Force's Mysterious X-37B Space Plane Breaks Its Own Orbital Record
The ongoing mission of the U.S Air Force robotic X-37B space shuttle has just broken its own orbital record of 674 days in space. Though, the landing date for the apparatus remains undetermined.
According to Space, till March 25, the X-37B has spent 675 days on its latest Earth-circling mission, which is known Orbital Test Vehicle-4. The report stated that the previous record was 674 days, set during OTV-3 which lasted from December 2012 to October 2014.
The x-37B unmanned space vehicles, which resemble very small space shuttle with a wingspan of just 15 feet, were launched from Cape Canaveral in May 2015. The space plane program has always been shrouded in a high degree of secrecy. However, experts, who are close, watched its flight point out that the spacecraft is too small and clumsy to be used as an anti-satellite weapon.
Sputnik News has stated that the US Air Force's stance on the X-37B is that the spacecraft is needed to test new reusable spacecraft technologies. The space plane is indeed a proving ground for technologies that will likely be used on a future space interceptor that would be able to destroy satellites with kinetic weapons.
The mystery vehicle, essentially a technology test bed, is designed to orbit the Earth and then land like one of NASA's old shuttles. The manufacturing of X-37B, Boeing says, the space plane operates in low-earth orbit, between 110 and 500 miles above the Earth. By comparison, the international Space Station orbits at about 220 miles.
However, it was uncertain as for how long OTV-4's mission will last and finally where it will land. Though, its predecessors, OTV 1 to 3, lasted 224, 469 and 674 days in space and were successfully landed at Vandenberg Air Base in California.
Meanwhile, the landing date will be determined based on the completion of the programs on bit demonstration and objective. The report was stated by the NASA's official.
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