The U.S. military's secretive X-37B robot spaceplane successfully launched from Florida on Thursday night, marking its seventh mission. Notably, this mission is the first launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, capable of delivering the spaceplane to a higher orbit than before.
The Falcon Heavy, composed of three liquid-fueled rocket cores, lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The launch was initially delayed for over two weeks due to poor weather and technical issues. The X-37B, a Boeing-built spacecraft resembling a miniature space shuttle, is part of the U.S. Space Force's National Security Space Launch program.
The Pentagon has provided limited details about the mission, which is conducted under a shroud of secrecy. The X-37B is designed to deploy various payloads and conduct technology experiments during extended orbital flights. The craft, roughly the size of a small bus, lands on a runway like an airplane at the end of its mission.
This mission is significant as it is the first time the X-37B is launched aboard SpaceX's more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, capable of carrying heavier payloads farther into space. While the exact orbital destination remains undisclosed, industry analysts speculate that the X-37B may be headed for a highly elliptical orbit around Earth or even a path that could reach the vicinity of the moon.
The Pentagon has mentioned tests of "new orbital regimes, experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies." This has led to speculation that the spaceplane might explore orbits beyond its usual low-Earth orbit, potentially reaching geosynchronous orbit over 22,000 miles above Earth.
The X-37B's secretive nature and the military's interest in new orbital capabilities add an element of mystery to its mission objectives. The spacecraft's duration in orbit is not publicly disclosed, but past missions have demonstrated successively longer flights, with the last mission lasting well over two years before landing in November 2022.
The launch comes two weeks after China's own robot spaceplane, the Shenlong, was launched on its third mission. The timing of these launches adds a competitive dimension to the growing U.S.-Sino rivalry in space. China's Shenlong was launched using a less powerful Long March 2F rocket and is believed to be limited to delivering payloads to low-Earth orbit.
While both the X-37B and Shenlong missions remain shrouded in secrecy, they underscore the increasing competition between the U.S. and China in the realm of space technology and exploration.
