US plane ends 780-day test
Cape Canaveral, Oct. 29: The US Air Force’s mystery space plane is back on Earth, following a recordbreaking two-year mission.
The X-37B landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Sunday. The USAF is mum about what the plane did in orbit after launching aboard a SpaceX rocket in 2017.
The 780-day mission sets a new endurance record for the reusable test vehicle, after the 718 days in the previous mission.
It looks like a space shuttle but is one-fourth the size at 29 feet. Officials say this latest mission successfully completed its objectives. Experiments from the Air Force Research Laboratory were aboard.
This was the fifth spaceflight by a vehicle of this sort, the first was launched in 2010. The next one is planned next year with another launch from Cape Canaveral.
According to Air Force secretary Barbara Barrett, “Each successive mission advances our nation's space capabilities.”
It’s unknown what the vehicle is for, but the USAF has previously stated that it carried small satellites into space. The satellites are not registered with the UN.
It is suspected that the X37B is being used to test technologies and experiments meant to last for long periods in space.
“The safe return of this spacecraft, after breaking its own endurance record, is the result of the innovative partnership between government and industry,” Gen. David L. Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said in a statement. “The sky is no longer the limit for the Air Force and, if Congress approves, the US Space Force.”
Speculation has been rife that while it could be deployed for defence purposes, it could also be testing out technologies for a future hyperplane that can fly seven times the speed of sound. — Agencies