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Air Force ready for launch of second X-37B
by Anter Prakash Singh - March 4, 2011 - comments
The X-37B or the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) will be placed in the Earth’s orbit by an Atlas 5 rocket. The mission details are classified,but the details of the space plane are not.
The US Air Force is gearing up for the launch of its second X-37B unmanned space vehicle, scheduled for Friday, provided the weather cooperates. Like the first one, the details of experiments to be carried out during this mission are also classified.
The exact time for the Friday launch will be announced at around 8 am EST Friday morning, said the Air Force sources.
The space plane
The X-37B or the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) will be placed in the Earth’s orbit by an Atlas 5 rocket. Though the mission details are classified, the details of the space plane are not.
The OTV will stay in the Earth’s orbit for nine months and will land at Vandenberg on its return, said the Air Force officials
The OTV is 29 feet long and is 14 feet wide from wing to wing. It resembles a mini space shuttle and can weigh up to 11,000 pounds when full with fuel.
The OTV will stay in the Earth’s orbit for nine months and will land at Vandenberg on its return, said the Air Force officials.
The vehicle, build by Phantom Works Division of Boeing, was a brain child of NASA but the space agency handed it over to the research and development unit of the Pantagon, DARPA in 2004.
The Air Force took over the project in 2006 and it was managed by a high level group called Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. The first X-37 was launched on 22nd April last year.
Earlier mission was successful
The first X 37B returned to Earth on Dec. 3 and it was the first landing by an U.S. Unmanned space vehicle on a runway.
The X-37B will try to emulate the feat achieved by the first flight and it is better equipped with the experienced gained from the first landing, said Maj. Tracy Bunko, Air Force spokesperson at the Pentagon.
Bunko told Spaceflight Now: “Like all flight test programs, OTV 2 will build on the on-orbit demonstration of OTV 1, so we’re expanding and fine tuning our test parameters.”
The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office “expedites development and fielding of select Department of defence combat support and weapon systems by leveraging defence-wide technology development efforts and existing operational capabilities,” said an Air Force fact sheet.
The office reports to the top officials like the secretary of Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff. It has completed several projects ahead of the timeline.
The Friday launch is however clouded by uncertainty as the gusty winds and the thick cloud cover threaten it. Air Force meteorologists are predicting that there is a 70 percent chance of the weather playing a spoilsport and forbidding an on time launch.