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Word has it that the X-37 seems to be moving down the road from the Mojave Spaceport in California to neighboring Palmdale.
The robotic X-37 spaceplane is a project of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Space and Intelligence division of the Boeing Company, with limited support from NASA.
On April 7, after lots of testing at Mojave, the craft was finally dropped at high altitude from the White Knight carrier aircraft. For more details, check out:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060407_x37_drop.html
The auto-landing of the unpiloted X-37, however, ran into a bit of a problem by unexpectedly rolling off the end of the runway. There was minor damage to the vehicle, with its nose landing gear heavily damaged. However, the craft’s main landing gear and superstructure appeared structurally intact – that was the word at the time.
Rumor has it that the X-37 project folks have vacated the Mojave hangar and are headed for Palmdale under a May 1 deadline.
May 1st, 2006 at 9:29 am
It will be interesting to see what twist DARPA puts on the X-37. Pilotless aircraft are, of course, the next big advancement towards changing the way military operations are carried out.
I’m no expert on the subject, but I wonder if the X-37 is meant to produce better reconnaissance photos, mobile missile launching, or is it destined to be a part of a national missile defense program?
Either way, thanks for keeping us posted.
May 4th, 2006 at 11:59 am
The flight was viewed as a huge success. The brakes drew too much current and tripped off the circuit breakers, thus the X37 continued to roll, right down the middle of the runway, and finally off the end. The original mission of the X37 - were it to fly in space - was to launch and retrieve satellites. A flight mission was to have a robot arm and a solar array. Originally planned as a shuttle payload bay launch, later plans put a spaceflight vehicle on an expendable launch vehicle (Delta II or the like).