The Secret Above Our Heads.

Science/Business | David Wu | November 18th, 2022.

On November 12th, 2022, people across the Sunshine State heard a Sonic Boom, the sound made by objects breaking the sound barrier within the earth’s atmosphere. The cause of the sound was a United States Air Force and Space Force X-37B space plane re-entering suborbital Earth to land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Facility. The X-37B spacecraft has been on a secret mission in low earth orbit for approximately 30 months (908 days), shattering the record flight time of reusable spacecraft. What the United States government has done and will do with this competent machine is highly elusive and confidential. Still, as tax-payers, Americans have the right to speculate the implications of the research and development of American space capabilities. 

The X-37B has been in the United States Space Force development since 1999. The plane’s fuselage resembles that of the decommissioned space shuttles; however, X-37s are autonomous and much smaller in size, meaning they cannot support the human-grade operations that the space shuttles accomplished. The launch system that gets X-37B into low earth orbit is also drastically different from that of the space shuttle. Instead of attaching the spacecraft to the exterior of the main booster and fuel tanks, the aerospace engineers of X-37B took advantage of its smaller dimensions. They placed it inside fairings, which would detach once reaching the appropriate altitude and velocity. This utilization increases the safety of the cargo (the X-37B spacecraft) within the fairing and drastically reduces the aerodynamic drag caused by sharp angles.

As military agencies developed it, the X-37B has obvious military capabilities. While most of the contemporary abilities information is classified, the official Air Force sources state that X-37B has cutting-edge navigation, thermal protection, radiation deflection, propulsion, and reentry systems. Many aviation specialists extended the possibility of attaching laser-guided weapons according to the X-37s’ internal designs. 

In general aeronautics, X-37B is the only reusable spacecraft viable for returning precious cargo from Earth orbitals to the ground under 1.5 G-forces. The extensive autopilot system permits instant redirection of missions to collect samples and experiments from space stations. X-37B could also be used to carry satellites from earth to orbit or transit different orbits with its 11,000 launch weight, which would be close to the weight of an elephant. 

There is no official announcement of X-37B’s implementation of man-supporting systems. It is expected, however, that a six-astronaut variant of X-37s is well under research. Close collaborations between the United States government agencies, SpaceX, and other private industries have hinted at the commitment to this project. If investments and interests persist, X-37s would be the successors to the space shuttles – the preceding pride of American space technology. 

Most of the developments, launches, and missions of X-37B will remain opaque to the American public and the international community. Today's public information is released officially or conceived by experts in space flight. This project of spaceplanes is a stride towards strengthening the American presence in space, considering that China, Russia, and other competing countries have all recently established their Space Force agencies. Americans should be proud of this substantial development for the United States' space interests and national security.