Space & Astronomy

Boeing releases unexpected new video about the secretive X-37b space plane

By T.K. Randall
November 11, 2024 ·  0 comments

An artist's depiction of the X-37b 'aerobraking'. Image Credit: Boeing Resembling a miniature version of NASA's now-retired space shuttles, this pint-sized robotic space plane was passed over to the US Department of Defense back in 2004 and has since embarked on a series of secretive orbital missions, sometimes spending over two years at a time in space.

Its most recent mission saw the X-37b launch into the heavens atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy back on December 28th, 2023 but its activities since then have remained, as usual, a complete mystery.

Last month, though, in a surprising move, Boeing and the US Space Force actually revealed that the enigmatic space vehicle would be conducting a series of 'aerobraking' maneuvers to enable it to move to a lower orbit where it would dispose of surplus hardware before returning to the Earth.

The announcement was unusual because very little is typically ever offered about the X-37b or what it is doing in space.

Now, Boeing has even gone so far as to publish a video providing more details about the aerobraking procedure, how it works and why the vehicle needs to perform it."When we aerobrake, we utilize atmospheric drag to effectively step down our apogee one pass at a time until we get to the orbital regime that we want to be in," Boeing's John Ealy explains in the video.

"When we do this, we save enormous amounts of propellant, and that's really why aerobraking is important."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, neither the announcement nor the video provide any specific details regarding the X-37b's current mission objectives in Earth's orbit.

Instead, its purpose is simply described as "advancing our nation's space capabilities by testing new technologies that reduce risk and inform our future space architectures."

You can view Boeing's video below.


Source: Live Science | Comments (0)

Tags: X-37b