(spacecraft zooming)
- The US has been flying this spacecraft
since 2010, called the x-37B.
It was recently loaded into a Space X falcon heavy rocket,
and then blasted into space on a super secret mission
right before the new year,
with very few details revealed about where it's going,
how long it will be up there, and what it'll be doing.
And that happened just two weeks
after China launched its own mysterious space plane.
The classified nature of these missions
has fueled all kinds of speculation
about where these planes might be going
and whether they could be used as space weapons.
So I called a few experts to learn more
about what they might actually be up to.
Here's what we know.
Although the US's x-37B looks a lot
like NASA's former space shuttle,
it's only about a quarter of the size.
It's autonomous, and it doesn't require a crew of humans.
And then check this out.
When its missions are complete,
The x-37B deorbits and lands back on Earth like an airplane.
- That's why the x-37 is an amazing capability.
It's reusable, it's returnable, it's refurbishable,
but it isn't an enormous vehicle that's limited
by having to have humans on board.
- Because it's uncrewed, the x-37B can stay in space
for years and Boeing, the company that makes it,
says that since 2010, it has completed six missions,
traveled 1.3 billion miles
and deployed for more than 900 days straight.
So, what does the x-37B do when it's in space?
The official answer is lots and lots
of classified experiments.
Take a look at this animation.
You can see the x-37B flying with its doors open,
which enables it to expose materials in space
and carry out all kinds of different tests.
We do have a little bit of insight
into some of the experiments it's done in the past.
For example, we know that the x-37B has hosted
a power beaming system,
technology that could one day enable satellites
to send solar power down to Earth.
And we also know it carried an Air Force Academy satellite
into space before deploying it.
The experts I talked to said it could also be used
to test materials for satellites
or space sensors in various parts of space.
- This is national security related,
to counter the Russian, Chinese capabilities
that are coming up.
- There are many, many experiments
and many things you would wanna do in space
that frankly we would not want peer competitors
to know about just as they hide things from us.
- So let's talk about some of the speculation,
like that the x-37B is some kind of space bomber
or that it could be used to test weapons.
- There isn't a lot of common sense
behind trying to do offensive weapons in space.
They sound great in science fiction,
but for many practical reasons
they don't make a lot of sense.
But no, there's absolutely no evidence
that x-37 has been doing anything offensive in space.
- This painting unveiled by the US Space Operations Command
also helped fuel speculation that the x-37B
could be used to intercept adversary satellites.
That's because amateur space watchers said,
Hey, that futuristic space vehicle they're depicting,
that looks a lot like the x-37B.
- It's plausible.
You can take out satellites by going close
and blinding it with lasers or something like that.
It's all sorts of possibilities,
- But interfering with a satellite is a little different
than actually scooping one out of the sky.
- So, it actually turns out to be really difficult
to do an intercept of an object in space from space
for the very simple reason that when you are in orbit
around the Earth, you're traveling
at a very, very high speed, a high velocity.
- After launching on its seventh mission,
the x-37B could be heading deeper into space
than ever before.
And that's why this recent launch is getting a lot of buzz.
Not only did it blast off on a falcon heavy,
which Space X says is capable of going as far as Mars,
but the Space Force dropped a few hints in press releases,
saying that the vehicle will be operating
in new orbital regimes,
experimenting with space domain awareness technologies,
and investigating radiation effects to NASA materials.
That means the spacecraft is probably going
beyond low Earth orbit where it has operated before,
and it could potentially even travel 22,000 miles out
to geosynchronous orbit.
- There are a lot of really interesting orbits
that give you new capabilities
that cover different parts of the planet.
As an example, the Russians have for many, many years
used a type of orbit called a Molniya orbit,
which is a very high-inclination orbit.
So it takes 'em up to very high altitude
and then drops down to low altitude,
and they can use those orbits
to get more time over a certain part of the Earth.
It gives you other advantages
that the Russians have utilized.
- The radiation clue in Space Force's press release
could also suggest that the x-37B will be spending time
exposing materials in the Van Allen radiation belts,
which have been deemed deadly to some types of materials.
- You have to take that into account
if you're going to establish a satellite constellation
higher up.
- But of course, these professors say
these are just educated guesses, since no one really knows
where the x-37B is heading.
Against the backdrop of all of this
is an intensifying space race between superpowers,
and that includes growing competition
to develop and build more space planes.
The NASA-contracted Sierra Space Dream Chaser
could potentially fly this year,
and while Russia hasn't made much progress
on its space planes in recent decades, China has.
- We know that China has been eagerly pursuing space planes
for quite some time.
- The US says Beijing has been developing two space planes,
though details have been kept very secret
and they've been years behind the US in flying them.
After one of them launched in December, General Saltzman,
the chief of Space Operations for the US Space Force
said that that plane and the x-37B
are some of the most-watched objects in orbit right now.
And he said it is no coincidence that China
is trying to match the US's timing and capabilities.
(tense music)