The purpose of the flight the Boeing X-37 is unknown.
The Minister of the U.S. air force Heather Wilson at a meeting of the Senate Committee on armed services noted that SpaceX provides “guaranteed access to space at an extremely competitive price.” Experts believe that the ability to launch the Boeing X-37 the new media provides “more opportunities”.
The launch of the Boeing X-37 was carried out on the rocket Atlas 5 company ULA (United Launch Alliance), a joint venture of aerospace giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing — the main competitor of SpaceX in the U.S. market. Previously, ULA was the only company that the Pentagon has entrusted the launch of the military apparatus.
The first launch mini space Shuttle took place on April 22, 2010. The last flight of Boeing X-37 ended in may 2017, was the longest (718 days). In just seven years in earth orbit Boeing X-37 carried 2085 days.
The purpose of the flight the Boeing X-37 unknown usually gets in the media, only information about related research programs on the ship. For example, on the order of the last flight it was reported that on a ship the us military in cooperation with NASA, will test the ion rocket engine. Space Agency in the framework of the METIS project (Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space) aboard the Boeing X-37 was to study the effect of space conditions on advanced materials.
Interviewed by the website Space.com experts believe that a mini-Shuttle designed for practicing the destruction of satellites, and one of its objectives is to test the economic efficiency of such actions compared to the missile by means of elimination.
Boeing X-37 able to enter orbit and land in the same manner as the devices of the Space Shuttle. Length reusable orbital plane of 8.83 meters, which is four times less than that of the Space Shuttle, and its wingspan — 4.6 meters.
Work on the creation of the X-37 began in 1999 through the joint efforts of NASA and Boeing. It was assumed that it will be used for the repair of near-earth satellites at altitudes up to about 700 kilometers. However, in 2004, the program was kept secret and given to the Agency for future defence research development U.S. Agency (DARPA). Since then, the budget associated with the Boeing X-37, was classified. At the disposal of the U.S. air force is considered, there are two Boeing X-37.
About the secret vehicle Boeing X-37 at the time of adoption by the State Duma in the first reading on may 19, 2015 draft of the Federal law “On State Corporation for space activities of Roscosmos” mentioned Vice-Premier of Russian government Dmitry Rogozin. He reported about it in the context of reusable space technologies. “The total number of us existing projects on reusable carriers made up eight” — said Rogozin.
© 2017, paradox. All rights reserved.
