2023-12-29 08:23:02
After weeks of delays, the American military space drone X-37B took off Thursday evening aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to carry out a research mission. This is the seventh mission for this drone, the destination of which has not been communicated.
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Destination unknown. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket took off on Thursday, December 28, to transport the American military space drone X-37B to a research mission, announced the American company founded by Elon Musk.
After weeks of delays, the rocket departed at 8:07 p.m. (0107 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The liftoff was broadcast live on the SpaceX website.
No information was available on the destination of the space drone, an unmanned shuttle, for its seventh mission.
The Pentagon has released little information regarding the space drone and its new mission, initially scheduled to begin on December 7.
SpaceX simply cites the code name given by the Pentagon to the mission – USSF-52 – in its press release on the launch.
“Falcon Heavy launched the USSF-52 mission into orbit from Launch Pad 39A,” according to SpaceX.
A drone built for the US Air Force
The Pentagon previously announced that the seventh X-37B mission would feature “multiple cutting-edge experiments.”
“These tests include the operation of the reusable space plane in new orbital regimes, the experimentation of future technologies on knowledge of the space domain and the study of the effects of radiation on materials provided by NASA,” according to a statement released last month by the U.S. Department of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office.
The press release specifies that this is the first time that the X-37B has been launched by a Falcon Heavy rocket, one of the most powerful in operation and capable of carrying loads of up to 26,700 kg far into space.
Shrouded in the greatest secrecy, the X-37B made its first flight in 2010 and spent a total of more than ten years in space during its first six missions, indicated at the end of its sixth mission in November 2022 its manufacturer, the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
The X-37B was designed for the United States Air Force by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
It is nine meters long, has a wingspan of 4.5 meters and is powered by solar panels.
Its launch by the Falcon Heavy rocket comes two weeks following China placed its own space drone, named Shenlong, into orbit on December 14 for what the state agency Xinhua called “a certain period of time” during which scientific experiments “intended to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space” will be carried out.
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