Posted on 10/25/2009 1:32:54 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
You would think that an unpiloted space plane built to rocket spaceward from Florida atop an Atlas booster, circle the planet for an extended time, then land on autopilot on a California runway would be big news. But for the U.S. Air Force X-37B project — seemingly, mum's the word.
There is an air of vagueness regarding next year's Atlas Evolved Expendable launch of the unpiloted, reusable military space plane. The X-37B will be cocooned within the Atlas rocket's launch shroud — a ride that's far from cheap.
While the launch range approval is still forthcoming, SPACE.com has learned that the U.S. Air Force has the X-37B manifested for an April 2010 liftoff.
As a mini-space plane, this Boeing Phantom Works craft has been under development for years. Several agencies have been involved in the effort, NASA as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and various arms of the U.S. Air Force.
Over the last few months, I've been in touch with DARPA, Boeing, the Pentagon, the U.S. Air Force Space Command, as well as NASA itself. Either you get a "not in our portfolio" or are given a "go to" pass to another agency. Just a few weeks ago, I even commandeered a face-to-face "no comment" from a top Pentagon official for Air Force space programs about X-37B.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Pretty cool.
ping.
ping
“The problem with it [X37-B] is whether you see it as a weapons platform,” said Theresa Hitchens, former head of the Center for Defense Information’s Space Security Program, now Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva, Switzerland.
“It then becomes, if I am not mistaken, a Global Strike platform. There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about Global Strike as a concept,” Hitchens told SPACE.com.
- Bet the Chinese, etc., would like to have it and have no qualms about using it for their strategic purposes, not withstanding any Geneva-based UN bureaucrat’s reservations!
Best Guess:
1. We’ve had this prototype for quite a while & it has. Already flown several times.
2. Like the F-117 it’s about to go operational and can no longer be hidden or explained away.
3. (possible) the USAF wants.it ‘out’ so that Gates & Obama can’t quietly kill the program.
I guess the operative words are “whatever works.”
Not so.
The problem with it is that it WILL be seen as a weapons platform by enemies abroad and within.
This has the feeling of a B-1 for the 21st century; slighted and terminated until the government changes or circumstances demand; and then coming to pass about the same time as the next generation hits the street.
“Secert enuf to have a Wiki entry
X-37B OTV-1 (Orbital Test Vehicle 1) is an American unmanned spaceflight, which will be the maiden flight of the Boeing X-37B. It was originally scheduled for launch in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle, however following the Columbia accident, it was transferred to a Delta II 7920. It was subsequently transferred to the Atlas V following concerns over the spacecraft’s aerodynamic properties during launch.[2]
It is currently scheduled for launch in January 2010 atop an Atlas V rocket from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[3] The spacecraft will be placed into low Earth orbit, and following several days of on-orbit testing, it will be de-orbited for landing. The landing is to occur on a runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base with Edwards Air Force Base as the alternate site.[4] The flight will be conducted by the US Air Force and DARPA.
Comments on the size - was to be lifted by the shuttle.
Purpose?
Maybe a skysat platform for tactical reasons?
Per the ref to a Stike mission. When I was in the USAF, anything Strike = nukes. Why bother when we still have MM III ICBMs and all the sub-based stuff as well?
Could it just be the last a Congressionally madated spending stub going thru the last of it’s dough?
The “White Knight Drop” photos at the top of the pictures ... looks like something from Scaled Composites. Anyone know what the Rutans have been doing lately??
It's a test platform, as in "proof of concept". We do not know how big the final production version is envisioned to be.
I mean, would the Air Force fib about a thing like this?
Whatever,....just keep the program going....that’s what is important....
This is really cool.
X-37B... an April 2010 liftoff... mini-space plane... Boeing Phantom WorksThanks sonofstrangelove for the topic, and KevinDavis for the ping.
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