A top-secret American Boeing X-37B spaceplane returned to Earth from space after 908 days in orbit. There is minimal information about this device in the public domain, but even it allows us to draw very interesting conclusions. First of all, about the threat this satellite poses to Russian spacecraft – and not only for them.In modern space, there is a situation that best describes the principle of a strip bar - "you can look, you can't touch".
An attempt to steal or break a spacecraft will cause a serious international scandal. But to come closer to someone else's spacecraft, take a picture of it, so that later on Earth specialists can understand the principle of operation and the technological solutions used, or even try to intercept the radio signal – please.
This is what the so-called inspection satellites are doing – spacecraft that can change the orbit, approach enemy satellites and have tools for tracking or interfering with their work. Most often, countries have a negative attitude to such work, while all this happens within the framework of the modern legal field.
At the same time, Americans often blame Russia for the presence of satellite inspectors and often publicly criticize their work. For example, on February 6, 2020, NATO General Andre Lanata called one of these Russian satellites, Kosmos-2542, a "threat to allies." At the same time, the Americans themselves actively use such spacecraft, do not indicate them in the lists of NORAD space objects and sincerely believe that "what is allowed to Jupiter"...
And just an example of American inspection satellites is a device called the Boeing X-37B. Work on its creation began more than twenty years ago, back in 1998. At that time, the Space Shuttle program was still at its peak, which is essentially the same spaceplane, only larger and with the possibility of manned flights. However, NASA specialists wanted a small device for themselves, for which an ordinary heavy rocket would be enough to put into orbit.
The aerospace company Boeing undertook to create the X-37. She also carried out the maneuvering and landing approach of the X-40 spaceplane demonstrator, then it was increased by thirty percent while maintaining the basic proportions – and received the X-37. Why did you change the size? At that time, the Space Shuttle program was still working and one of the options for launching a spaceplane into orbit was the use of a shuttle cargo compartment.
Initially, it was supposed to create two experimental devices for atmospheric tests and one for orbital flight, but money became too bad – and the project hung in the air.
The development was picked up by the US Agency for Advanced Defense Research and Development (DARPA), that is, in fact, the X-37 quietly flew into the hands of the military.
In 2006, test flights were conducted, checking a variety of parameters. Following the results of the tests, the world saw a military version of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) orbital laboratory. Initially, it was assumed that a variant of NASA's X-37 would also be created, but, alas, neither the forces nor the means were enough for it. To date, there are at least two flight models of the X-37B, and both of them work in the interests of the US Department of Defense.
What do we know for sure about the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle? Only fragmentary data. The device is a reusable autonomous space shuttle. The Atlas-5 launch vehicle (a Falcon 9 from SpaceX was used for this in one of the missions) launches it into space. Then he, returning to the Earth's atmosphere, lands similarly to a conventional airplane.
Initially, the main parameters of this spaceplane were high delta-v (characteristic speed of the orbital maneuver) and total characteristic speed. What does it mean? These are the parameters of the spacecraft velocity change that is necessary to perform an orbital maneuver (trajectory change). The higher they are, the more a spaceplane can do in orbit. For example, to fly up to another satellite, and then fly away from it, change the orbit, and so on.
According to early documents, the delta-v X-37B was 3100 meters per second. For comparison: the American Space Shuttle had a delta of 305 m/s with a maximum load. Created for lunar flights, the Apollo had a delta of 2804 m / s (this is clearly visible from the ship – a small cabin and huge fuel tanks), the modern Orion – 1338 m / s. The Soyuz-MS, which does not require large maneuvers in orbit, has a delta of 390 m/s. In other words, the X-37B is an ideal inspector spacecraft capable of "visiting" several enemy satellites at once in one flight.
The load capacity of the device, according to various sources, ranges from 200 to 900 kilograms. If we talk about putting into orbit, then, most likely, a large figure is correct, but a spacecraft can return to Earth, like a shuttle, with less weight. The length of the X-37B is about nine meters, the wingspan is 4.5 m. The total maximum starting weight is 4990 kilograms.
In the upper part of the fuselage, the cargo compartment is 2.1 by 1.2 meters. In addition, in the last mission, the spaceplane used a special service module added to the aft part of the device, which allowed to increase the payload put into orbit. Before landing, the module was dropped from the spacecraft. Whether it landed or burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere is not reported.
The main issue that worries Russia, China and even some US NATO allies concerns the possibility of using the X-37B directly as a weapon. In response, the US Department of Defense insists that the device is an experimental model and even names some of the experiments conducted in orbit.
According to US Air Force reports, the payload of the spaceplane is experiencing a number of completely peaceful systems. For example, guidance, navigation and control systems, avionics, thermal protection systems, conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems, advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials and technologies for autonomous orbital flight, re-entry into the atmosphere and landing.
Despite these excellent scientific lists, one can hardly believe in the exclusively peaceful use of a spaceplane.
For example, in the last flight, which lasted 908 days, X-37B, using a service module, deployed a small satellite called FalconSat-8 weighing 136 kilograms. This satellite, in turn, contained five experimental payloads developed by NASA and the US Air Force. This was the first time that the military revealed any details about such a cargo.
In 2012, China accused the United States of using the X-37B to track the module of the Chinese space station Tiangong-1. The Americans, however, assured that the spacecraft were in unsuitable orbits for this, but, as they say, the sediment remained.
In any case, there is no doubt that the spaceplane is used or can be used as an inspection satellite capable of approaching another spacecraft and trying to collect data about it or interfere with its operation. All the tactical and technical characteristics speak about this quite definitely.
Could there be something else in using the X-37B? Certainly. Yes, in the current version, the spaceplane has too low payload capacity for some more serious weapons, but its future versions can certainly be used for more aggressive actions.
This is partly evidenced by the words of former US Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. At the Aspen Institute Forum (Aspen Security Forum), she stated that the X-37B can fly low enough to use the Earth's atmosphere to change its orbit. And also to make maneuvers so that the opponents could not accurately predict how the device would move, and hit it if necessary. With such capabilities, the X-37B basically becomes a weapon itself. And unpredictable and very dangerous.
In the meantime, the rest of the countries can only observe the flights of the American apparatus and try to create their own. It is also worth trying to understand how dangerous tests of a particular payload can be and whether it is a prototype of some kind of weapon.
For example, in the last flight, the device tested the possibility of converting solar energy into radio frequency microwave radiation for transmission to Earth in the form of electricity. The US Department of Defense stated that the conversion of solar energy into microwaves is planned to be used exclusively in the field of peaceful energy. However, it is easy to imagine how such microwave radiation in orbit is used against another spacecraft – and then it becomes just another type of weapon.
Mikhail Kotov
