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ORAC
22nd Apr 2010, 09:15
AW&ST: Orbital Test Vehicle: Reusable Spacecraft (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awst/2010/04/19/AW_04_19_2010_p32-219782.xml&headline=Orbital%20Test%20Vehicle:%20Reusable%20Spacecraft%2 0Ops)
Apr 21, 2010
Colorado Springs

A U.S. Air Force Space Command flight test of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, scheduled to launch April 20 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., atop an Atlas 501, will serve as an “on-orbit” demonstration of space vehicle technologies as well as pioneer reusable spacecraft operations.

Originally a NASA program, the X-37B’s exact mission has been increasingly cloaked in secrecy since it was taken over by the Air Force, which initially worked the program in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). The 29-ft.-long, 15-ft.-wingspan vehicle resembles a small space shuttle in overall form, and was designed to test human spaceflight technologies under NASA before transitioning to Darpa in 2004.

Although it was dropped in 2007 from the Scaled Composites WhiteKnightOne mothership for atmospheric glide, approach and landing tests to Edwards AFB, Calif., the 11,000-lb. X-37B has not flown into space until now. With just inches to spare within the 5-meter (16.4-ft.) fairing of the Atlas vehicle, the OTV will be launched by the 45th Space Wing into an orbital mission that could last as long as 270 days before the spacecraft autonomously recovers to a landing at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Defense officials indicate, however, the first mission will be considerably shorter than this.

In the April 22 mission led by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, which expedites development and fielding of select Defense Department weapon systems, the initial test of the OTV will be focused on the performance of the vehicle itself. “Technologies to be tested include advanced guidance, navigation and control; thermal protection systems; avionics; high-temperature structures and seals; conformal reusable insulation; and lightweight electromechanical flight systems,” says the Air Force. “The X-37B will also demonstrate autonomous orbital flight, reentry and landing. The platform will be used for long-duration space technology experimentation and testing,” it adds.

Follow-on flights, set for an unspecified time frame, will begin to focus more on testing of spacecraft technology and deployable payloads that the OTV will carry in its cargo bay. In its original NASA guise, the bay measured 7 X 4 ft., though it is not known if the Boeing Phantom Works-built vehicle has been significantly modified in this regard since moving into the defense realm.

In its most informative statement, the Air Force says the OTV will provide “a flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components and associated technology to be efficiently transported to and from the space environment. This service directly supports the Defense Department’s technology risk-reduction efforts for new satellite systems. By providing an ‘on-orbit laboratory’ test environment, it will prove new technology and components before those technologies are committed to operational satellite programs.”

What remains unknown are the types of on-orbit experiments that will be conducted by the OTV, the new sensors that will be tested and the extent to which the OTV operation itself will be used to demonstrate reusable, fast-turnaround missions being sought by advocates of operationally responsive space.

Editor's Note: When this week's magazine was published, the X-37B mission was scheduled for April 20. As of today it is scheduled for April 22 and changed to that date above.

Two's in
23rd Apr 2010, 00:10
Just went up 19:58 EDT

Modern Elmo
23rd Apr 2010, 02:20
Here's a piece about the X-37 in one of America's lo-brow sources of hi-tech info, Popular Mechanics magazine:

Behind the Air Force's and NASA's X-37B Space Plane - Popularmechanics.com (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/nasa/behind-the-air-forces-secret-robotic-space-plane)

It's very good that the Air Force is doing this. NASA's ability to develop new launch missiles and human-sized spacecraft is degenerate, decadent, almost dead. Not that the USAF is planning to launch people.

Modern Elmo
23rd Apr 2010, 02:48
Aside from unmanned operation, what can the X-37 do that the Space Shuttle can't? The X-37 is much more maneuverable in space. It can perform rather large changes in orbital plane or shape after weeks or months in orbit. This is very useful for space-based reconnaissance.

Something I don't understand: if the Air Force wanted to keep the X-37 launch altogether quiet, why did they launch it from Kentucky Fried Space Center instead of Vandenberg? Vandenberg AFB will be the normal and typical X-37 launch location.

GreenKnight121
23rd Apr 2010, 03:29
Aside from unmanned operation, what can the X-37 do that the Space Shuttle can't?

Fly.

As in:
"The Space Shuttle program is down to 3 flights left... STS-132 targeted for launch May 14 will be Atlantis' last flight, STS-134 scheduled for July 29 will be Endeavour's last flight, and STS-133 scheduled for September 16 will be Discovery's last flight, which will bring the shuttle program to an end."

And yes, STS-134 is out-of-sequence... you'll have to ask NASA why.
NASA - Mission Information (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/index.html)

ORAC
23rd Apr 2010, 08:19
AW&ST (Ares): Busy hour for military space and hypersonics (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a4b55b7c8-3733-464e-af08-2976b0a2f43b&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest)

Two key tests which could have ramifications on U.S. military space and hypersonics for decades to come, took place within an hour of one another this evening. First off the mark, at around 7pm EDT, was Darpa’s HTV-2 – a Lockheed Martin-built hypersonic test vehicle aimed at proving technology for long-endurance, maneuvering hypersonic flight. The small, sharp-delta shaped vehicle was pushed to speeds in excess of Mach 20 by a Minotaur IV Lite rocket launched from Vandenberg AFB, California.

http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/13/5/fd689236-3c6b-4f85-b562-9c8a08ec44b2.Large.jpg
Did HTV-2 perform as expected? We may find out soon. (Darpa)

Less than one hour later, at 7.52pm EDT, the Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral AFB, Florida on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V. The U.S. Air Force OTV is designed to serve as an ‘on-orbit’ testbed for spacecraft technologies as well as pioneer re-usable space operations. The 29-ft long OTV was launched by the 45th Space Wing into an orbital mission that will end after an unspecified period of days or weeks with an autonomous landing at Vandenberg AFB. The X-37B is powered by gallium arsenide solar cells with lithium-ion batteries and potentiall could stay in orbit for up to 270 days.

http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/8/11/987baa4f-87cf-47db-8bb3-ea4524a5b582.Large.jpg
OTV - ready for sealing up inside the Atlas V fairing (USAF)

After years of planning, and a series of recent weather delays, it was by complete chance that both tests took place so close together. At this point we know that both vehicles launched successfully, and separated from their respective boosters. The rest of the story remains to be told, but is expected to unfold (in the case of the HTV-2 at least), in more detail on Friday.

Ian Corrigible
23rd Apr 2010, 12:38
...a third upcoming test being the delayed flight of Boeing's X-51 WaveRider, now bumped to late May. The X-51's hydrocarbon scramjet technology is being considered for the basis of AFRL's Rapid Identification and Prosecution of Targets in Denied Environments (Riptide) effort.

http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/0107global_main.jpg

Once again from Popular Mechanics: Hypersonic Cruise Missile: America's New Global Strike Weapon (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/4203874).

I/C

Rocket2
23rd Apr 2010, 15:49
Good video of the launch on the Daily Telegraph web site - also some stunning pics & vid's of the volcano