[deanmine]

The plane spent nearly two years circling Earth on a classified mission. Known as the X-37B, it resembles a mini space shuttle.


It safely touched down at 9:24 a.m. Friday, officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base said.
Just what the plane was doing during its 674 days in orbit has been the subject of sometimes spectacular speculation.
Several experts have theorized it carried a payload of spy gear in its cargo bay. Other theories sound straight out of a James Bond film, including that the spacecraft would be able to capture the satellites of other nations or shadow China's space lab.
In a written release announcing the return of the craft, the Air Force only said it had been conducting "on-orbit experiments."
The X-37B program has been an orphan of sorts, bouncing since its inception in 1999 between several federal agencies, NASA among them. It now resides under the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office.
The plane that landed Friday is one of two built by Boeing. This is the program's third mission, and began in December 2012.
The plane stands 9 1/2 feet tall and is just over 29 feet long, with a wingspan under 15 feet. It weighs 11,000 pounds and has solar panels that unfurl to charge its batteries once in orbit.
The Air Force said it plans to launch the fourth X-37B mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, next year.

[spudigitti]

Is this the vehicle the virgin aerospace one that crashed is based on..

[mtakala]

This has nothing to do with Virgin Galactic. This is an Air Force project, and this goes 17000+ mph to orbit, where as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo only makes a suborbital "jump" straight up. These suborbital jumps require more than ten times less propellant to do.

[ralucagymnast]

Originally Posted by mtakala ↗

This has nothing to do with Virgin Galactic. This is an Air Force project, and this goes 17000+ mph to orbit, where as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo only makes a suborbital "jump" straight up. These suborbital jumps require more than ten times less propellant to do.

Yep the one that crashed was a hypersonic glide re-entry vehicle; scramjetted into space. The Russians have been testing re-entry glide vehicles for their Topol etc combat payloads for a while now, the Chinese too for their Dong Feng ICBM's. Maybe it only works if its weaponised lol.

[deanmine]

Originally Posted by spudigitti ↗

Is this the vehicle the virgin aerospace one that crashed is based on..

No, the Virgin Aerospace program is based on there own designs from what I understand. It came about from a Game/Challenge for a 10million bucks prize.
Astronaut Brian Binnie rides on SpaceShipOne after his suborbital flight to win the Ansari X Prize in Mojave, Calif. on Monday. MOJAVE, Calif. — SpaceShipOne crossed the finish line in an 8-year, $10 million space race Monday, winning the Ansari X Prize with its second spaceflight in less than a week.

[mtakala]

Originally Posted by ralucagymnast ↗

Yep the one that crashed was a hypersonic glide re-entry vehicle; scramjetted into space. The Russians have been testing re-entry glide vehicles for their Topol etc combat payloads for a while now, the Chinese too for their Dong Feng ICBM's. Maybe it only works if its weaponised lol.

Nope, the crashed SpaceShipTwo flies straight up, then folds its wing so that its like shuttlecock, and makes the re-entry in that non-gliding configuration. It then repositions the wing to the normal position and makes a gliding landing into airfield.

And it does not use scramjet technology, it uses a hybrid rocket motor. This crashed flight was the first one to use nailon as the fuel. Modifications for that was to include pressurized methane tank and additional helium tanks to stabilize and improve the burn characteristic. Oxidizer has always been Nitrous Oxide for SpaceShipOne/Two. It does not scoop up oxygen from atmosphere as oxidizer (=scramjet) during any parts of its flight.

[mtakala]

And adding to that, I think pretty much all developed-in-nuclear-warhead nation has multi-bomb separate targeting gliding warheads, and that technology (precision glide/quided re-entry from almost-orbital speeds) is still pretty much a guarded secret.

Virgin Galactic/SpaceShipTwo does not have anything similar to that tech.

[spudigitti]

So its confusing as to who's doing what and to what end result may come out of it all I'm Irish we just want to know when were going so we can run thing....
Its better for all of us if we do the tamandy hall thing again spread the love and all that.........

[deanmine]

Originally Posted by spudigitti ↗

Its better for all of us if we do the tamandy hall thing again spread the love and all that.

it worked the first time

[spudigitti]

Originally Posted by deanmine ↗

it worked the first time

Sure did sign you up can I ??