An unpilotedAir Force X-37B spaceplane, a mini shuttle making the program's fourth flight, is poised for launch Wednesday on a mostly classified mission featuring an unusual hitchhiker: a small publicly-funded satellite built to test the feasibility of using sails and the pressure of sunlight ...
Topics covered include the Boeing-built X-37B orbital space plane of the Air Force for testing thrusters using ionic propulsion and carry the Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space (METIS) experiment. Also cited is the crowdsourced Lightsail project of Bill Nye using solar sail for...
"Once you put an arm and other equipment into the [X-37B]payload, how much room is left to put the satellite you capture?" Weedenpointed out. "Most military satellites are really big." Even using the space plane to launch smaller satelliteswould be much less cost-effective than just sev...
Despite rumors that the Air Force's secret X-37B space plane is a weapon, it will most likely test new spy satellite technologies when it launches March 4, experts say.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral Wednesday, boosting anunpiloted military spaceplaneinto orbit for a secret mission. Hitching a ride on the Atlas were 10 small CubeSat spacecraft, including an experimental "LightSail" satellite provided by the Planetary Societ...
Inside the Air Force’s secret space plane Secret X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Skywatchers Getting Ready for Tomorrow’s Space Wars Secret U.S. Spaceship Launch Masks Even More Secret Launch Mystery Space Plane’s Mystery Mission Approaches ...
achieving this through greatly improved computer processing and data sharing over longer distances makes it more difficult for enemies to disable satellite systems. Redundancy is also the foundation of the Air Force's space program, as it increases the likelihood of satellite functionality continuing to...
The most likely mission for the spaceplane is as an “on-orbit sensor platform and technology test bed.” The X-37B could allow the Air Force to test technologies bound for the next generation of spy satellites, before building a billion dollar satellite around them, and returning them to ...
is slated to take over some of the x-37b's duties once the space plane lands. if that satellite got diverted for emergency use over, say, afghanistan, then the x-37b would need to stay in orbit longer. it's not clear how long the x-37b might hold out. once in space, the ...
[03:58.60]The Air Force is also working [04:00.52]on an AI-powered navigation system [04:03.40]that does not depend on satellites. [04:07.00]The concern is that satellites could be targeted in war. [04:12.56]So ins...