The 45th Space Wing put the X37-B back into play on Sunday. A flawless launch (excluding weather) marked the beginning of yet another undetermined period of orbit for this spectacular craft.
Most outlets are talking about the same thing, an energy beam experiment which is onboard this mission that is supposed to collect and send concentrated solar energy back to earth in the form of microwaves... YAWN. This craft has so much more potential and 'wireless charging' is the detail they choose to share. This sort of sounds like the 'diversion topic' so outlets don't start talking about some of the other likely uses for such a craft. If you've been following the X37 project you likely know it stays up for very long periods of time:
- OTV-1 was up for 225 days
- OTV-2 was up for 469 days
- OTV-3 was in orbit for 675 days
- OTV-4 launched in 2015 and spent 718 days in space!!
- OTV-5 which just returned in October of last year after a whopping 780 days in space
One can only surmise that we won't be seeing OTV-6 back on the tarmac any time really soon. So what is it doing up there and what 'could' it potentially offer the Space Force, in the future? It seems like in its last 2,867 days there's more we could be talking about then topping off a Generals iPhone from space. Lets explore some other hypothetical possibilities.
We can't (or at-least shouldn't) be deploying space weapons into orbit, so lets skip all those theories. But what about other military applications. When you look at this craft, you can't deny its similarity to the shuttle. Where as the Space Shuttle "shuttled" people, the X37-B wasn't designed that way... or was it? There have been stories of the X37-C being in-production (with rumors unconfirmed there is a flight ready version in Florida) which does indeed have a pressurized cargo area. Satellites and experiments don't need that but you know what does - PEOPLE. With the Space Force now a thing and the newest branch of the United States Military growing, this only seems an inevitability that we transport pressurized cargo in such a vehicle.
But we certainly don't need this to get to the ISS, there are way better/more efficient methods of bringing things/people to the International Space Station. What could Boeing be developing here... a new insertion method for Special Forces, a fancy Moon Taxi or a Super Sized construction vehicle to build our 'new' space station or outpost? The possibility that any of those could happen is exciting and leaves us wondering when we will learn what they are really 'testing' all this time.
Either way, we at Max Q are excited and support the project even if it eventually turns out to be way less spectacular than our imaginations are leading us to believe.
GO SPACE FORCE!
