Recently, the United States Space Force shared a unique view of its mysterious X-37B space plane while it was orbiting above Africa. This photo, taken by a camera onboard the X-37B, shows one of its solar panels and what looks like its open payload bay. The plane has been in space for over a year, following its launch on December 28, 2023, via a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
This marks a significant moment, as it’s the first publicly released image of the X-37B in orbit. While the photo doesn’t reveal much about the plane’s activities, it does show Earth far below, indicating how high the X-37B is flying.
Before this, we only caught a brief glimpse of the spacecraft during its launch stream, where we saw it deploying from Falcon Heavy.
On its current mission, the Space Force plans to operate the reusable spaceplane in new orbital regimes. They are experimenting with technologies to improve space domain awareness and studying how radiation affects certain materials.
Unlike previous missions that kept the X-37B in low Earth orbit, this time it’s operating at a much greater distance. The Falcon Heavy rocket is capable of putting payloads into geosynchronous orbit, which is more than 22,000 miles away from Earth.
In addition to taking stunning images, the X-37B is testing a new aerobraking maneuver. This method helps the spaceplane change its orbit more efficiently by using the drag from Earth’s atmosphere. A recent statement mentioned that the onboard camera captured an image while conducting experiments, although it’s unclear whether they were related to the aerobraking technique.
The X-37B has a history of testing new space technologies. It has previously dealt with projects like solar power beaming from space and autonomous flight systems. According to the Space Force, this vehicle helps reduce risks, conduct experiments, and develop concepts for reusable spacecraft.
The X-37B holds the record for a prolonged mission, having stayed in orbit for 908 days before landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in November 2022. The Space Force usually keeps mission details under wraps, so we don’t know when this current mission will conclude.
In the realm of reusable spaceplanes, China is also in the game. It launched its own vehicle on a mission just two weeks before the X-37B’s latest launch.
