SpaceX wins X-37B contract
The company will launch the Air Force’s experimental space plane this year.
SpaceX will launch the Air Force’s X-37B experimental space plane later this year in the military’s latest vote of confidence in the Elon Musk-led space company.
This will be the first time that SpaceX has launched the uncrewed robotic vehicle. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., has launched the space plane’s previous four missions atop one of its Atlas V rockets.
The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, which is responsible for the X-37B’s experimental operations, said it was “very excited” for the fifth flight, which will test how special electronics and heat pipes will fare during a long-duration space mission.
“We look forward to continued expansion of the vehicle’s performance and are excited to continue hosting experimental payloads for the space community,” Randy Walden, the office’s director, said in a statement.
The Air Force did not disclose when SpaceX won the contract.
The Air Force has two of the space planes, which look like miniature versions of the space shuttle and are known officially as X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles. The first X-37B was launched in 2010.
The X-37B’s most recent mission involved 718 days in orbit before the space plane landed last month.
Although details of the space plane’s missions are scarce, the Air Force could be using the X-37B to test sensors for intelligence gathering from space, according to Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, a private organization that researches space security issues.
Experts have also speculated that the space plane could be a vehicle for the military to quickly launch small satellites or as a repair service for satellites in orbit.
SpaceX — which is based in Hawthorne and whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — was certified by the Air Force in 2015 to carry national security satellites, which broke up a longtime monopoly held by United Launch Alliance. Since then, SpaceX has won two contracts to launch national security satellites for the Air Force.