The U.S. Army’s X-37B spacecraft program will remain under the control of the Air Force for the foreseeable future, and will not participate in other Pentagon space programs transferred to the Space Force after the establishment of the new service branch. last year.
The Air Force’s two reusable winged X-37B spacecraft, built by Boeing, have launched on six classified missions, tested new space hardware, deployed small satellites, and performed other clandestine missions on missions spanning hundreds of miles over several years. above ground have logged.
The X-37B program, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, is managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. The office is headquartered in Washington and “accelerates development and fieldwork” of military support and weapons systems, and also oversees projects on faster timelines for development, according to a military fact sheet.
Randy Walden, director and program executive officer for the Air Force’s Office of Rapid Capabilities, said Aug. 13 in a virtual forum hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that his office would remain open for the X-37B program.
An Office Rapid Capabilities Office headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico was established in 2018 to replace the Army’s Operationally Responsive Space, or ORS. Most of Space RCO’s efforts are classified.
Walden said the Air Force RCO will maintain the X-37B program, but added that his office will “continue the cooperation” with Space RCO and the U.S. Space Force.
“Right now, we plan to keep that,” Walden said, referring to the X-37B program. “There is a lot of interest in reusable space cars at the moment. We have received a lot of information in the decade that we have been operating that system, and I think it has provided unique and relevant insights into some of the newer technologies that would actually go into space and inform how they those systems would build. We will continue to do so. ”
The Space Force was established in December 2019, and other military space programs – such as GPS satellites and military communications networks – have been moved from the Air Force to the new service box, which is still part of the Air Force Department.
Walden said the Space Force, Space RCO, and Air Force Research Laboratory in Kirtland could supply loadloads to fly on X-37B missions. The AFRL has flown payloads on previous X-37B flights, and the Naval Research Laboratory is flying an experiment on solar power on the X-37B spacecraft currently in orbit, which launched May 17 from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
The current X-37B mission is the sixth flight of the spacecraft since 2010, and it debuted a new service module on the back of the spacecraft to provide additional capacity for loadloads and experiments. The X-37B also has a payload bay in its hull with doors that open and close after launch and before take-off and landing.
“We have what we now call a service module, and the service module is actually the thing that was used to connect to the top stage booster,” Walden said. “It allows us to put a lot more experimentation into it. That we actually increase the type of capacity and experimentation we can do at each launch. We will continue to do so in the future. ”
Walden said his office has experience in managing and flying X-37B missions.
“Right now, I think it would be unfair to pass it on to someone else and expect them to spend the night,” he said.
Walden did not rule out the possibility that the Air Force could transfer the X-37B program to the Space Force in the future.
Prior to the launch of the sixth X-37B mission in May, the two Boeing-built spacecraft had accumulated 2,865 days in orbit on five previous flights. The longest X-37B mission to date lasted 780 days – more than two years – from September 2017 to October 2019.
The un Piloted spacecraft launches in a payload up on top of a conventional rocket, throws an energy-generating solar ray into orbit to generate electricity, and returns to Earth for a launch orbit like NASA’s retired spacecraft. The X-37B measures more than 29 feet (8.9 meters) long, about a quarter the length of a spaceship orbiter, and has a wingspan of nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters).
The X-37B program began under NASA’s management before being transferred to DARPA in 2004, then to the Air Force in 2006.
The National Aeronautic Associated announced last week that it is awarding the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy to the X-37B spacecraft.
“Underscoring the importance of space for the nation, the Collier Trophy celebrates the record-setting mission of the X-37B,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said in a statement. “Most Americans use space every day for navigation, information and communication. Sophisticated and unconscious, the X-37B advances in reusable space plan technologies and exploits experiments in space that are back for further exploration on Earth.
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