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Year in space with the unknown purpose: successor Shattle, superconfidential X-spacecraft 37B
On May 20 exactly a year since launch of space mission of Boeing X-37 within which the reusable X-unmanned spacecraft 37B OTV was put to Earth orbit (start-up of USA-261) will be executed. It is already the fourth start of devices of this series, first of which took place in 2010 – but still not on all questions on these devices there are answers.
Boeing X-37 also known as Test orbital transport [Orbital Test Vehicle, OTV] is a project of the small reusable orbital plane UAV. To orbit it is put by the rocket, and it makes landing to airfield by means of wings, using carrying power. The project was begun by the Boeing company in 1999 by request of NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
Initial development of the project in which in different proportions were enclosed by NASA, the Air Force and Boeing cost $192 million, and in connection with success of the project the aviaproducer received in 2002 the following contract of already $301 million for development continuation.
The project in general is based on experience of construction of the reusable devices Space Shuttle Orbiter leaving in space of 30 years from 1981 to 2011. It was initially planned that X-37 will be used for approach to satellites and their repair, and it will be put to orbit in a cargo compartment of Shuttles (length of X-37 makes 9 meters, Shuttle length – 37 meters). But then it was decided that a conclusion of Shuttles too expensive manages to the program of space exploration, and X-37 remade for a conclusion to an orbit by means of the rocket.
In 2006 the U.S. Air Force declared that they will independently be engaged in development of X-37 option which was called X-37B OTV. It was planned that X-37B will be able to spend up to 270 days in a row in an orbit. The secretary of the Air Force declared that development of the project will concentrate on “reduction of risks, experiments, and development of the working concept of reusable spacecrafts, for achievement of long-term goals of space exploration”.
As a result of all alterations it was decided that in space X-37B rockets of the class “Atlas-V” will remove (which first step uses the Russian RD-180 engines), and for landing and service of equipment old hangars and landing strips in the space center of Kennedy which were used by Shuttles earlier will be used.
At the same time specific goals and tasks of the program are kept by the Air Force a secret. It is reported only about “testing of technologies for creation of a reusable pilotless platform for the U.S. Air Force”. Electronic onboard systems, flight systems, systems of navigation, thermoprotection and atmospheric entry are checked. The current start X-37B is officially connected with testing of the new version of the engine on effect of the Hall (a kind of the ionic engine) which is in the future planned to be used on satellites of NASA.
However the U.S. Air Force was repeatedly accused of attempts of creation of a space weapon and use X-37B as espionage satellite. In 2012 statements for its use for espionage behind the first Chinese spacecraft of a class of the Tyangun-1 space station – the truth were made, they were quite convincingly disproved by a strong difference in orbits of devices. In 2014 The Guardian gave opinion of the experts considering that the device experiences work of systems for espionage and supervision in severe conditions of space.
Questions are raised by privacy of details of missions, in particular – lack of accurate information on their duration. For example, this mission had to last no more than 200 days, but in three days it will already executed exactly a year. If the Air Force really checked all systems specified in the official description of mission in their interests would be to put the UAV as soon as possible to start studying of results of experiments. Its long stay in an orbit corresponds to the behavior characteristic of satellites of supervision.
Of course, preservation of an aura of privacy around the experiments made by military is not something unique. Perhaps, X-37B really only makes different peaceful experiments and on anybody does not spy. It is necessary only to hope that the new round of development of space technologies will not lead to new space race of arms though prerequisites to it already appear. Only at the beginning of May the Washington bulletin of “The Washington Post” published article in which Russia and China are directly accused of development of the technologies allowing them to attack spacecrafts of the USA.
