The US Department of Defense's X-37B spy drone is one of the world's most intriguing spaceships, performing regular covert missions with unknown targets. The Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV).

A report published on the "Live Science" website on August 24 last reviewed 10 confirmed information about the secret space plane.

Basic facts are available

The reusable X-37B, a miniature version of one of the decommissioned NASA space shuttles, was built as previously reported by Live's sister site Space.com. Science".

It is about 8.8 meters long, 2.9 meters high, has a wingspan of just under 4.6 metres, and weighs 4,990 kilograms when on the launch pad.

Atlas 5 rocket carrying the experimental space plane "X-37B" from a base in Florida in 2012 (Reuters)

Like the space shuttle, the X-37B takes off vertically, is propelled by a rocket, and once in orbit it can maneuver on its own, eventually landing on a runway back to Earth like a conventional aircraft.

The vehicle has a small payload area, roughly the size of the trunk of a transport truck, enabling it to carry equipment and satellites, and operates between 240 and 805 kilometers above the ground, according to its manufacturer, Boeing.

It was used by the leaders of various military branches

NASA transferred two X-37Bs to the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2004, according to Space.com.

After being used by the US Air Force for many years, robotic spy planes will come under the supervision of the newly established Space Force in 2020, according to Military.com, a news website and information resource for the military.

Comparison of the size of the robotic space plane "X-37B" and the larger space shuttle "X-37C" and the Atlas 5 missile (Foreign Press)

Nobody knows exactly what you're doing

Although it has performed 6 missions so far, the true purpose of the X-37B is still a mystery, but some possibilities include monitoring the Earth's surface from an altitude and deploying spy satellites, although nothing has been confirmed at all.

There are also some fanciful hypotheses, such as the idea that the X-37B could be a space launcher, a vehicle to spy on the Chinese space station, or a way for the US military to jam other countries' satellites.

But experts dismissed all these ideas, saying that it would need large amounts of fuel or it would be too easy to prove the US military's connection to it, as previously reported by "Live Science".

Can stay in space for years

One of the two X-37Bs made its first launch in 2010 and spent 224 days in space, and the other first flew a year later and stayed in orbit for more than twice that amount of time.

A previous report by "Live Science" stated that the current record for the spacecraft is 780 days (more than two full years) in orbit, which happened during the fifth flight of the "X-37B", but what it was doing there all that time is not still ambiguous.

The American space plane awaits launch from a base in Florida in 2010 (Reuters)

It can be launched on a SpaceX missile.

The X-37B is usually launched into space by the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V propulsion vehicle, but the vehicle has the ability to launch with different missiles.

During its fifth mission in 2017, the Army made some changes and used a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to take it into orbit, according to a report by Space.com.

Civilians filming an X-37B

Although a classified piece of military equipment, the X-37B was not hidden from civilian skywatchers' cameras, the launch dates for the craft were announced enabling the Russell Eberst satellite tracker from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Determined where it is in the sky and seen through a telescope in October 2017.

The Netherlands-based celestial investigator, Cees Bassa, did the same that year, Live Science previously reported.

A Dutch sky observer and satellite tracker called Ralf Vandebergh was able to photograph the robotic spacecraft as it rotated in the sky in 2019. small, and also a reference to some smaller details."

The American space plane "X-37B" after landing from its fourth mission in 2014 (Reuters)

She can withstand trials

Shortly before the latest launch of the X-37B in 2020, the US military revealed that the spy plane had added a new service module attached to its stern that allows it to carry large numbers of experiments into orbit.

“The integration of the service unit on the This mission enables us to continue expanding the spacecraft's capabilities and hosting more experiments than any of our previous missions."

The mission published a small satellite known as "FalconSat-8", which contained 5 experimental payloads, some of which were developed by the US Air Force and others by NASA.

While NASA said it was testing a previous X-37B flight, this was the first time the military had revealed any details about the cargo.

Award winning

In 2020, the X-37B was awarded one of the most prominent awards in the field of aviation, called the "Collier Trophy" for crossing the "limits of aviation and space exploration", according to the US Air Force.

"An advanced and unmanned aircraft that develops reusable spacecraft technologies, conducts experiments in space and is then returned for further examination on the ground," Barbara Barrett, the Secretary of the Air Force, said in a statement.

Designed to thwart enemies

During a session at the 2019 Aspen Security Forum, former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson revealed that the X-37B might be able to fly low enough to use the atmosphere. Earth to change its orbit, according to Military.com.

Wilson said the craft's maneuvers are specifically designed to provoke adversaries such as Russia and China "because they are unable to predict exactly what it might do."

Technicians practice their duties after the landing of the US space plane in 2010 (Reuters)

model and pilot

In 2011, Boeing studied the various vehicle designs that the X-37B could eventually develop into, citing a paper by company engineer Arthur Granz titled "X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and Its Derivatives" (X- 37B Orbital Test Vehicle and Derivatives) a version called the X-37C, which will be larger and capable of carrying astronauts, according to Space.com, but since then little information has emerged about the X-37. bad".