Story 2014-05-01 3JK Mysterious robotic plane hits 500 days in space; what's it doing?

Mysterious robotic plane hits 500 days in space; what's it doing?

by
in space on (#3JK)
story imagePhys.org reports :
A robotic space plane is speeding in low Earth orbit at this very moment. Some say it's a weapon; others, a data-gathering mission. There's one fact most agree on as the plane hits 500 days in space: Its real purpose is a mystery.

The Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Space Vehicle, constructed in California, is one-fourth the size of the Endeavour Space Shuttle.

Whatever its real purpose, the X-37B has very real capabilities. It travels low in orbit, staying around 110 to 500 miles above the Earth at a cruising speed of about 17,500 mph. It's equipped with special heat-shield tiles for re-entry, which are billed by Boeing as tougher than Endeavour's.

But the government's treatment of the project poses questions. Though it's advertised as a secret project, Boeing releases pictures and more than two pages of details on the X-37B. In contrast, the secret, super-fast Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was not declassified until decades after it had been used in the Vietnam War.
More pictures and speculation can be found at Extremetech .
Reply 9 comments

Fish don't fry in the kitchen! (Score: -1, Offtopic)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-01 13:34 (#1A1)

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin',
Just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues,
Gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby,
There ain't nothin wrong with that.

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Multi purpose (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-05-01 14:09 (#1A2)

I'm sure there are many things its doing, testing the space plane, optics, any tests that are too dangerous to do on the ISS. Its like having a private US space station, without the need for life support or space for humans.

Re: Multi purpose (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-01 15:04 (#1A3)

If so, why is its purpose not made public? The public surely pays for it, so if it would be entirely scientific there would be no need to make it a mystery. This leads to the conclusion that there must be some military application.

Re: Multi purpose (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-05-02 20:29 (#1BB)

Oh, no. I don't think it's entirely scientific. I just don't think its entirely millitary oriented either.

Um, So? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-01 17:36 (#1AB)

I'm not sure I understand why this is news. Haven't there always been tons of secret spy satellites about which the public had little information?

Re: Um, So? (Score: 3, Insightful)

by omoc@pipedot.org on 2014-05-01 18:14 (#1AC)

Because usually we know either nothing or everything about such a mission. Here some detailed specifics have been made public while the actual purpose is kept secret. It's like they want us to speculate

Re: Um, So? (Score: 1, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-01 18:51 (#1AE)

Huh, okay...

Maybe the partial openness is just a way to give in to modern reality and accommodate the inevitability of the kind of sightings and research and/or "leaks" people are doing across the net for this vessel and other phenomena. Or there are subcontractor confidentiality issues. Or they're going to be selling it for other uses. I see now, thanks.

Could it be (Score: 3, Interesting)

by spacebar@pipedot.org on 2014-05-01 20:41 (#1AH)

perhaps that it wasn't meant to be in space for 500 days? How embarrassing... Quick- pretend it's a secret mission!

Re: Could it be (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-05-02 23:07 (#1BD)

Ha, that's great, The thing is stuck up there due to some failure, and instead of announcing its broken, they just site that its up their doing "something" for a record amount of time!

Turn an embarrassing failure into a secretive success! Brilliant!