The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
US military’s ‘spaceplane’ launch shadows China’s
sCieNCe editor
A SECRET “spaceplane” has been launched by the United States on a classified mission, just days after a similar Chinese craft released mysterious objects into orbit.
The unmanned military shuttle, named X-37B, took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Thursday.
The US Space Force, which is running the mission, released scant details of its objectives but said it would be “operating in new orbital regimes” and “experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies”.
The news came after China launched its own robotic Shenlong (Divine Dragon) spaceplane earlier this month, which placed six objects into Earth orbit. The unknown objects, described as “mysterious wingmen” by the amateur spacecraft trackers who are following them, are sending out signals but the reason for the emissions is unclear.
It is expected that the latest US mission will be keeping an eye on Chinese space operations and many believe the decision to launch the craft so close to each other is not a coincidence.
It is the seventh time that the US X-37B has been launched but it is the first time the drone has been carried aboard such a large rocket, meaning that it can go further.
There is speculation it may leave low Earth orbit and might be destined for a lunar orbit.
However, it could also take up a high elliptical orbit of Earth, known as a Molniya orbit, which was pioneered by the Soviet Union to provide communications in Arctic areas.
Falcon Heavy rockets can also carry payloads into a geosynchronous orbit,