The Boeing X-37B military space drone has completed a record-breaking flight that began in May 2020. The drone spent more than two years (908 days) in orbit as part of the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6) mission. No one knows what he did.
Mission OTV-6
Very little is known about Boeing’s unmanned space vehicle. We know for sure that it is designed to test space technologies of the future, but the vast majority of its tasks and missions are strictly classified.
Interesting fact! The most common conspiracy theory (what if without them) around the X-37B is the test and use of hypersonic weapons.
As part of the OTV-6 mission, the space drone tested radiation protection in particular in orbit. For this, the drone was covered with special plates created using additive technologies. Research will continue, because now the task of scientists is to establish how the radiation of open space affected the materials.
‘The X-37B continues to push the boundaries of experimentation, thanks to an elite government and industry team behind the scenes,’ said Lt. Col. Joseph Fritschen, X-37B Program Director for DAF’s Rapid Capability Division. “The ability to conduct experiments in orbit and safely bring them home for in-depth analysis on the ground has proven valuable to the Department of the Air Force and the scientific community. The addition of the service module on the OTV-6 allowed us to do more experiments than ever before.”
The OTV-6 mission deployed the Naval Research Laboratory’s Photoelectric RF Antenna Module. This experiment successfully used the sun’s rays outside the Earth’s atmosphere and aimed to transmit energy to Earth in the form of radio frequency microwave energy. In addition, the US Air Force Academy’s FalconSat-8, developed in partnership with the US Air Force Research Laboratory, was successfully deployed in October 2021. FalconSat-8 remains in orbit, providing Academy cadets with unique hands-on experience as space operators prior to entering active duty, according to a news release about the flight.
By the way, the previous mission of the device called OTV-5 lasted 128 days less.
What else is known about the Boeing X-37B
The length of the drone is 8.28 meters, and the wingspan is 4.6 meters. The vehicle’s payload can be up to 900 kilograms, and a Rocketdyne Ar2-3 engine is used to launch it into orbit.
