| Data startu: | 7 września 2017, 10:00 EDT // 16:00 CEST |
| Test statyczny: | 31.08, 22:30 CEST |
| Ładunek: | wahadłowiec X-37B |
| Masa ładunku: | ~5000 kg |
| Orbita docelowa: | LEO |
| Rakieta: | Falcon 9 v1.2 |
| Platforma startowa: | LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Floryda |
| I stopień: | nowy, B1040 |
| Powrót I stopnia: | tak, lądowanie na platformie LZ-1 (RTLS) |
08/31/2017 14:50
The Falcon 9 launcher is now vertical at pad 39A in readiness for a static fire test this afternoon.
Static fire test complete—targeting Falcon 9 launch of OTV-5 from Pad 39A at @NASAKennedy on Thursday, September 7.https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/903361678774898688
Three hours until the opening of the window. Likely to be about three opportunities in the window, based on F9 recycle and launch requirements, I was told.
Falcon 9 and OTV-5 are vertical on Pad 39A Weather is 50% favorable for today’s ~5 launch window which opens at 9:50 a.m. EDT, 13:50 UTC.https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/905768404052611072
Gładko poszło, ale czy będzie jakaś informacja, że X-37B trafił na poprawną orbitę?
Informacja będzie, ale orbity nie podadzą :) Za kilkadziesiąt godzin "iksa" namierzą amatorzy i wszystko :) będzie jasne.
Zapewne była to pomyłka, przypadkiem znaleziono satelitę TecSar. Zatem czekamy nadal na odkrycie OTV-5.
Niezły numer!
Czy coś więcej wiadomo? Czy to był OTV-5? Chyba nie za dużo udanych obserwacji (o ile w ogóle), co sugeruje, że ten lot X-37B ma rzeczywiście inne parametry od wcześniejszych (np. właśnie to wspomniane nachylenie orbity).
Bo ten ptaszek chyba testuje manewrowanie, nie bedzie latwo go "zlapac";-) Z powazaniem
Adam Przybyla
Bo ten ptaszek chyba testuje manewrowanie, nie bedzie latwo go "zlapac";-) Z powazaniem
Adam Przybyla
Ale takich znowu wielkich możliwości manewrowych to on nie ma. Chodzi o to, że nie znamy orbity pierwotnej.
Chyba nadal X-37B nie został złapany, tak?
A tymczasem misja OTV-5 przez 2 miesiące była poza zasięgiem wścibskich oczu. :)
Państw azjatyckich, że się tak wyrażę. :)
A tymczasem misja OTV-5 przez 2 miesiące była poza zasięgiem wścibskich oczu. :)
Ale nie poza zasięgiem radarów pewnych dwóch państw.
Pytanie tylko (nie znam się, więc się wypowiem! :) ) czy te państwa szybko potrafiły zidentyfikować coś nowego na orbicie, nawet jeśli się to pojawiło "na ich radarach".
Pytanie tylko (nie znam się, więc się wypowiem! :) ) czy te państwa szybko potrafiły zidentyfikować coś nowego na orbicie, nawet jeśli się to pojawiło "na ich radarach".
Zapewne bardzo szybko, tym bardziej, że start był zapowiadany.
Ech, znów pudło :(
Link (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Nov-2017/0015.html).
Zadam bezczelne pytanie - nikt nie widział deorbitacji drugiego stopnia F9?To było gdzieś nad oceanem niedaleko Antarktydy, więc mogło być ciężko o obserwacje :)
Zadam bezczelne pytanie - nikt nie widział deorbitacji drugiego stopnia F9?To było gdzieś nad oceanem niedaleko Antarktydy, więc mogło być ciężko o obserwacje :)
Fajnie, że go znaleźli. Ciekawe o jakiej porze będzie widoczny na polskim niebie? :)
Mamy drania:
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=42932&lat=50.7067&lng=22.4108&loc=Jan%c3%b3w+Lubelski&alt=216&tz=CET
;D
On April 18th, a week after it was first located in orbit, OTV 5 made a manoeuvre. It was a no-show for several observers, including me, on the 19th, but two observers, Tristan Cools in Belgium and Marian Sabo in Slovakia, reported an "unidentified" object some 8 minutes earlier (which means it passed while I was setting up my camera on the 19th). Based on Tristan's photograph of that object, a post-manoeuvre orbit was guessed by Mike McCants as well as by me. Yesterday evening on the 20th, we were ready to look for it, and we did recover OTV 5, a few minutes in front of the estimated new orbit.
Ech, to tłumaczy dlaczego w ciągu dwóch ostatnich dni nic nie złapałem. Choć rzeczywiście przedwczoraj coś widziałem, ale nie zgadzało mi się czasowo i myślałem, że to coś innego.
Ciekawe, czy kolejna orbita będzie "do góry" czy jeszcze niżej. :)
Nalot 409 dni przekroczony...aktualny pod adresem: klik (http://lk.astronautilus.pl/sat/x37b.htm) ;)
A to byłoby ciekawe, gdyby okazało się, że jednak misja OTV-5 by trwała nawet po starcie OTV-6. :)
If the Air Force does go for an operational fleet, “they could add different versions of the vehicle, larger versions in particular,” says Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Harrison speculates that a bigger version of today’s X-37B, with a larger cargo bay, could conceivably bring military satellites back to Earth for maintenance or repairs, then return them to orbit.https://www.airspacemag.com/space/spaceplane-x-37-180957777/
U.S. military spaceplane breaks its own longevity record in orbit
August 27, 2019 by Stephen Clark
A robotic U.S. military spaceplane surpassed 719 days in orbit Monday, setting a new record for the longest flight of the Air Force’s winged X-37B orbiting experiment platform nearly two years after launching from Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Air Force officials have not said when the spacecraft will come back to Earth, or released much detail on the X-37B’s mission. When its mission is complete, it is expected to return to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a landing on the three-mile-long runway originally built for the space shuttle.
The current mission is the fifth flight of the Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane. Boeing has built at least two space-worthy X-37B vehicles, and the aerospace contractor refurbishes the reusable spacecraft inside a modified space shuttle hangar at Kennedy.
The X-37B spaceplane, also called the Orbital Test Vehicle, is about one-fourth the length of NASA’s retired space shuttle orbiters. The X-37B does not carry a crew and has no windows, but it can stay in orbit for years thanks to a deployable solar array to generate electricity.
Developed by Boeing’s Phantom Works division, the X-37B spaceplane can haul experiments and small satellites into orbit, then return equipment to Earth inside its cargo bay. Each spaceship has a wingspan of nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters) and a length of more than 29 feet (8.9 meters). The ship’s wings fit snugly inside the 17-foot-diameter (5-meter) payload shrouds on the Falcon 9 and Atlas 5 rockets.
The X-37B weighs about 11,000 pounds (5 metric tons), according to the Air Force.
The fifth X-37B mission launched Sept. 7, 2017, from launch pad 39A at Kennedy aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The four previous X-37B flights took off on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets from a nearby pad at Cape Canaveral.
The Falcon 9 rocket deployed the X-37B spacecraft into low Earth orbit, but the Air Force did not publish the orbit’s parameters, keeping with military policy for classified space missions.
Amateur satellite trackers found the X-37B in April 2018 in a circular 221-mile-high (356-kilometer) orbit inclined 54.5 degrees to the equator, a higher orbital inclination than the previous four X-37B missions. The higher inclination allows the spacecraft to fly over more parts of Earth on each trip around the planet.
Since then, the global community of satellite observers has tracked the spaceplane as it changed altitude several times, most recently settling in a more elliptical, or egg-shaped, orbit ranging between 184 miles (297 kilometers) and 209 miles (337 kilometers) above Earth, according to data catalogued by amateur trackers.
“The fifth OTV mission continues to advance the X-37B’s performance and flexibility as a space technology demonstrator and host platform for experimental payloads,” the Air Force said in a press release at the time of launch. “This mission carries small satellite ride shares and will demonstrate greater opportunities for rapid space access and on-orbit testing of emerging space technologies.
“Building upon the fourth mission and previous collaboration with experiment partners, this mission will host the Air Force Research Laboratory Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader payload to test experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipe technologies in the long duration space environment,” the Air Force said in a 2017 statement.
The thermal spreader experiment was expected to test three oscillating heat pipes. The new heat pipe technology is lighter and less expensive than components used on most satellites to keep internal avionics temperatures within safe margins.
“The three primary science objectives are to measure the initial on-orbit thermal performance, to measure long duration thermal performance, and to assess any lifetime degradation,” the Air Force Research Laboratory said in a fact sheet.
No other mission objectives were disclosed by the Air Force. Here is a list of the previous X-37B missions.
Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 1
(first flight of Vehicle No. 1)
Launch: April 22, 2010, on Atlas 5 rocket
Landing: Dec. 3 2010, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Duration: 224 days
Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 2
(first flight of Vehicle No. 2)
Launch: March 5, 2011, on Atlas 5 rocket
Landing: June 16, 2012, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Duration: 469 days
Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 3
(second flight of Vehicle No. 1)
Launch: Dec. 11, 2012, on Atlas 5 rocket
Landing: Oct. 17, 2014, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Duration: 675 days
Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 4
(unconfirmed which vehicle)
Launch: May 20, 2015, on Atlas 5 rocket
Landing: May 7, 2017, at Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Duration: 718 days
Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5
(unconfirmed which vehicle)
Launch: Sept. 7, 2017, on Falcon 9 rocket
Landing: TBD
The Air Force has not announced when the fifth X-37B mission will end. The military announced plans for the first three X-37B landings at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, ahead of time, but issued no such statements in 2017 ahead of the return of the fourth mission.
The Air Force’s sixth X-37B mission is scheduled for launch some time between April and June 2020. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
No more than one X-37B spacecraft has been in orbit at one time since the program began.
X-37B breaks record, lands after 780 days in orbit
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published October 27, 2019
(https://media.defense.gov/2019/Oct/27/2002201343/-1/-1/0/191027-F-XB799-0751.JPG) (https://media.defense.gov/2019/Oct/27/2002201342/-1/-1/0/191027-F-XB799-0752.JPG)
The Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 successfully landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Oct. 27, 2019. The X-37B OTV is an experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force. (Courtesy photo)
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 successfully landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Oct. 27, 2019 at 3:51 a.m.
The spaceplane conducted on-orbit experiments for 780 days during its mission, recently breaking its own record by being in orbit for more than two years. As of today, the total number of days spent on-orbit for the entire test vehicle program is 2,865 days.
“The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane,” said Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett. “Each successive mission advances our nation’s space capabilities.”
This is the Air Force’s premier reusable and unmanned spacecraft, providing the performance and flexibility to improve technologies in a way that allows scientists and engineers to recover experiments tested in a long-duration space environment.
“The safe return of this spacecraft, after breaking its own endurance record, is the result of the innovative partnership between Government and Industry,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “The sky is no longer the limit for the Air Force and, if Congress approves, the U.S. Space Force.”
Managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the X-37B program performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.
“This program continues to push the envelope as the world’s only reusable space vehicle. With a successful landing today, the X-37B completed its longest flight to date and successfully completed all mission objectives,” said Randy Walden, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director. “This mission successfully hosted Air Force Research Laboratory experiments, among others, as well as providing a ride for small satellites.”
The distinctive ability to test new systems in space and return them to Earth is unique to the X-37B program and enables the U.S. to more efficiently and effectively develop space capabilities necessary to maintain superiority in the space domain.
“This spacecraft is a key component of the space community. This milestone demonstrates our commitment to conducting experiments for America’s future space exploration,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Keen, X-37B program manager. “Congratulations to the X-37B team for a job well done.”
This will be the second time the X-37B landed at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility--Mission 4 landed after 718 days in orbit. The spaceplane was designed for an on-orbit duration of 270 days.
“Today marks an incredibly exciting day for the 45th Space Wing,” said Brig. Gen. Doug Schiess, 45th Space Wing commander. “Our team has been preparing for this event, and I am extremely proud to see their hard work and dedication culminate in today’s safe and successful landing of the X-37B.”
The fifth mission launched on Sept. 7, 2017 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on-board a Space X Falcon 9 booster, and the U.S. Air Force is preparing to launch the sixth X-37B mission from CCAFS in 2020.
Editor's note:
For more imagery, visit our X-37B feature page: https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/X37BOTV