The US Air Force ’s secretiveX-37Bspace aeroplane returned to Earth yesterday , after spend 718 days in orbit , but we still do n’t know what it was used for .
The unmanned reclaimable fomite – called an Orbital Test Vehicle ( OTV ) – was set in motion back on May 20 , 2015 on its 4th deputation , OTV-4 . This was its long commission to particular date , with the previous record book being 674 days .
It touched down at NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida , once used for Space Shuttle landing . The total number of days in domain for the OTV syllabus now stands at an impressive 2,085 days . The return to Earth on this occasion was also quite dramatic , as the fomite caused asonic boomthat was heard by resident of Florida .
The Boeing - build vehiclemeasures2.9 meters ( 9.5 feet ) in height and is 8.9 meters ( 29.2 feet ) long , with a wingspan of 4.5 beat ( 14.8 feet ) . It weighs about 4,990 kilograms ( 11,000 pounds ) and is powered by a compounding of solar cells and atomic number 3 - ion batteries .
" The landing place of OTV-4 marks another winner for the X-37B programme and the nation , " said Lt . Col . Ron Fehlen , X-37B plan coach , in astatement .
" This mission once again set an on - orbit survival record and marks the vehicle ’s first landing place in the United States Department of State of Florida . We are incredibly pleased with the performance of the space fomite and are excited about the data pile up to support the scientific and blank communities . ”
But the accurate role of this fomite remains a mystery . The Air Force are quite undetermined on the launch and landing place , with the fomite being learn to space by an Atlas V rocket engine . But what it does in orbit is unidentified , although we do know thanks to amateur astronomers that it stay in a relatively low-toned eye socket around 350 kilometer ( 220 Admiralty mile ) gamy .
The vehicle on the rails yesterday . US Air Force
hypothesis for the X-37B ’s purpose ranges from surveillance to launching bombs from place . The US Air Force , for its part , enunciate the goal of the program is simply to test reclaimable space vehicle technologies , and also new path to perform experiments in domain .
This likely is n’t the end for the program , though . The X-37B could fly again , while Boeing is also build a successor hollo the X-37C that ’s about 165 to 180 percent bigger .
