The Unknown X-37B Spacecraft Is About To Take Off On An Unknown Mission

Today's launch of the covert X-37B spacecraft aboard a SpaceX rocket is scheduled for today. Its objective? It's not quite clear, as usual.

The US Space Force announced that the robotic plane will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time on its seventh mission. Originally scheduled to occur on December 7, the launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida was rescheduled for December 11 during a 10-minute window that begins at 8:14 p.m. ET.

Watch SpaceX's account on X (formerly Twitter) for a video of the lift-off, which will be streamed live.

One of the most potent rockets in use today is SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, which has three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together. It's unclear why this launch requires the Falcon Heavy's extra power, but it could mean the X-37B is carrying a larger payload than on earlier flights.

Usually evasive about the nature of its work, the US Space Force only stated that it would be "investigating the radiation effects on materials provided by NASA, and experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies."

Though a little more battered, the X-37B shares a similar appearance with the iconic Space Shuttle. It is also significantly smaller, with a length of 8.9 meters (29 feet) and a wingspan of slightly less than 4.5 meters (15 feet). It can travel up to 28,200 kilometers (17,522 miles) per hour while cruising in low-Earth orbit, which is between 240 and 800 kilometers (150 and 500 miles) above the planet.

Since 2010, the Boeing-developed autonomous vehicle has participated in six missions. The final one, which took a record-breaking 908 days to complete in orbit, ended in November 2022.

The X-37B conducts "risk reduction, experimentation, and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies," according to the official US military line. But it's unclear exactly what its role entails.

A prominent hypothesis posits that it functions as a tool for reconnaissance and espionage. The X-37B spacecraft can turn and alter its course when it is at a lower altitude, as stated by Heather Wilson, the former US Secretary of the Air Force. This suggests that the spacecraft could be used to interfere with foreign adversaries.

This implies that our enemies are unaware of the location of the next occurrence, which occurs on the opposite side of the Earth from them. That is known to drive them insane. And I'm really happy about that," Wilson said in July 2019 to a panel during the Aspen Security Forum.

A 2012 Spaceflight magazine article, as reported by the BBC, suggested that X-37B may have been used for space-to-space surveillance because of how closely its orbit matched that of Tiangong-1, China's former space lab. However, these assertions have since been refuted by other experts.

In October 2014, security experts told the Guardian that the X-37B was being used "to test reconnaissance and spy sensors, particularly how they hold up against radiation and other hazards of orbit." This was a slightly more somber suggestion.

This mission represents the vehicle's first landing in the state of Florida and once again broke the record for on-orbit endurance. The spacecraft's performance has exceeded our expectations, and we are enthusiastic about the data that has been collected to benefit the space and scientific communities.

However, it is still unclear what this vehicle's precise function is. The vehicle is launched and landed by the Air Force with great transparency. An Atlas V rocket is used to propel the vehicle into space. Though amateur astronomers have informed us that it maintains a relatively low orbit, approximately 350 kilometers (220 miles) high, we are unsure of its exact activities while in orbit.

The X-37B may be used for anything from bomb launchers from space to surveillance. For its part, the US Air Force claims that the program's objective is to simply test new techniques for conducting experiments in orbit as well as reusable spacecraft technologies.

However, this probably doesn't mean the program is over. Boeing is developing a replacement aircraft, the X-37C, which will be between 165 and 180 percent larger than the X-37B, and the latter could resume flight.