Shuttle/Shuttle Concept Restart: Fwd: Next X-37B Mission Set Begin Soon

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: May 12, 2015 at 8:16:23 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Next X-37B Mission Set Begin Soon

Next X-37B Mission Set Begin Soon
by Morris Jones
Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 12, 2015

File image of a previous X-37B atop its launcher.
The fourth flight of the X-37B robot spaceplane will soon begin. This mission is groundbreaking! It's hardly the first launch, but it's the first time that we have been openly told about the payloads carried inside the spaceplane. This caught the spaceflight community by surprise, given the tight secrecy that has surrounded the previous three missions.
X-37B is roughly the size of a car, and carries a small payload bay with clamshell doors that open in orbit. It deploys a small solar panel from this bay after the doors open. There is no cockpit. The spaceplane is launched atop an Atlas V rocket, covered by a large payload fairing. It stays in orbit for months or even more than a year before gliding to a runway landing.
Let's recap what we know about this flight. We were first told by the US Air Force that the X-37B is carrying a Hall Effect thruster in its payload bay, along with the associated parts to run the thruster. Hall Effect thrusters are different from normal chemical fuel rockets. They use a single propellant (such as xenon gas) and ionize it with the use of electricity. The electrically charged propellant is thus expelled from the engine at a high velocity, making this thruster very fuel-efficient. Hall thrusters are great for making minor orbital corrections over long periods of time, but they are useless for launching objects from the ground.
The thruster is a modified version of a Hall Effect thruster used on some USAF satellites. The new, upgraded version will find its way on board future satellites if it proves its worth on this flight.
Soon afterwards, NASA explained that the mission will also carry a materials test experiment provided by the space agency itself! This will expose "more than 100 different materials" to space. Like the Hall thruster, these material samples are intended for use in future spacecraft.
So, we have a lot of firm knowledge of these payloads. What about the previous X-37B missions? We know that the missions were largely about testing the X-37B itself. It's an experimental vehicle built with a lot of new technologies. The overall design of the spacecraft is no secret. But we were never told anything about the contents of the payload bay for the previous launches. This was suspicious, and generated some wild speculation. This analyst has long suspected that the secret cargo was provided by another clandestine US government agency, and was probably testing parts for covert US satellites.
Although we know a lot about this mission, some questions still remain unanswered. We don't know how long this upcoming mission will remain in orbit. The previous flight went for more than a year and ten months. That marathon mission was designed to test the performance of the X-37B itself. While X-37B is still somewhat experimental, it has now largely proved its capabilities, so the performance of the payloads is probably the deciding factor. The Air Force has said nothing about the mission length, but NASA has. NASA's media release on its own experiment states that the samples will be exposed to space "for more than 200 days." But how much longer than this will it fly?
Previous NASA materials tests on the International Space Station have run for a year or more. This analyst would thus suggest that we can expect at least this long for the upcoming test. We know the spacecraft is capable of this, and more. But this does not necessarily mean any endurance records will be broken. A flight of roughly eighteen months could be possible. But if the Air Force wants, we could see the little spaceplane go the distance and celebrate two birthdays for its mission in orbit.
And what of the Hall Effect thruster? Like the accelerated testing of mechanical components on Earth, we can expect that the Hall thruster will be fired a lot more on this flight than it would be on an operational mission. Several years of on-orbit performance will be compressed into several months.
We are also unsure of which vehicle will fly on this mission. Two X-37B spacecraft have flown in space. One vehicle flew the first and third missions, giving the program its first taste of reusability. Another vehicle was used on the second mission. Will this vehicle be used again for the fourth mission? It seems plausible but it is simply not known at the time of writing. The USAF may prefer to send the first vehicle on a third trip into space, thus testing the reusability factor even further. Why prove once again that the spacecraft can fly twice when you can see how it performs on three missions?
The whole X-37B program is proving to be far more active and successful than some observers suspected at its start. Clearly, the little spacecraft is useful for many purposes and multiple customers. We can expect more missions in the future. We can expect different payloads, and probably some different agencies taking part in these missions. The cloak of secrecy will probably return for some missions, and be removed for others. We have seen this before with the Space Shuttle, which was periodically used to launch classified payloads.
Enjoy the flight. Space enthusiasts around the world are all watching with you.
Dr Morris Jones is an Australian space analyst who has written for spacedaily.com since 1999. Email morrisjonesNOSPAMhotmail.com. Replace NOSPAM with @ to send email. Dr Jones will answer media inquiries.

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AmericaSpace
For a nation that explores
May 11th, 2015
PHOTOS: X-37B Spaceplane and Lightsail Stacked Atop Atlas-V for May 20 AFSPC-5 Launch
By Mike Killian

The Air Force's AFSPC-5 payload, encapsulated inside a 5-meter diameter payload fairing, is mated to an Atlas V booster inside the Vertical Integration Facility or VIF at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex-41. Photo Credit: ULA
The rocket tasked with launching the next mission from Cape Canaveral, Fla., is well into its final processing events for a scheduled launch attempt on May 20. The Air Force AFSPC-5 mission, which will fly the secretive X-37B spaceplane to orbit (for the fourth time) and deliver the Planetary Society's privately-funded Lightsail spacecraft to orbit, will launch atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas-V 501 rocket from Space Launch Complex-41.
On Friday, May 8, the encapsulated AFSPC-5 payloads were stacked atop their 196-foot-tall rocket at ULA's beachside Atlas Vertical Integration Facility (VIF).
AFSPC-5 payload mate to Atlas-V rocket. Photo Credit: ULA
The Air Force's secretive X-37B, the AFSPC-5 primary payload known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), will fly at least two publicly disclosed experiments onboard: a NASA materials science investigation and a military electric propulsion test. The spacecraft itself looks uncannily similar to NASA's retired space shuttle, albeit a quarter of the size, but its true capabilities and primary mission(s) have always been classified, as is its whereabouts on orbit and mission duration.
Described as "the United States' newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft," the OTV's close resemblance to the space shuttle is misleading. In orbit, it deploys an array of gallium arsenide solar cells, which, when combined with power from a set of lithium-ion batteries, have thus far enabled it to remain aloft for more than 30 times longer than the average shuttle mission. Its payload bay measures 7 feet long and 4 feet wide and can house cargoes weighing between 500-660 pounds. An advanced avionics suite and airframe, together with electromechanical actuators and autonomous guidance controls, has focused the OTV's mandate onto "risk reduction, experimentation, and operational concept development for reusable vehicle technologies in support of long-term developmental space objectives."
The Planetary Society's solar sail satellite Lightsail, which is funded entirely by private citizens, will be hitching a ride to orbit on AFSPC-5 as well, as part of a secondary payload dubbed ULTRASat. Lightsail will conduct its first flight test via AFSPC-5, giving its team an opportunity to check the operation of vital systems in the extreme environment of space in low-Earth orbit (LEO). A mission-ready Lightsail is expected launch to Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2016.
"I'm naturally happy and excited, but I admit, a bit nervous," said Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. "We've been working to get a solar sail into space since I joined The Planetary Society Board in 1997. It's quite a milestone. Deep breath, no turning back now, this baby's on its own now."
The fully integrated Atlas-V and AFSPC-5 will be rolled out for launch May 19, with the first launch attempt scheduled to lift-off at 10:45 a.m. EDT May 20.

BELOW: The Air Force's AFSPC-5 payload, encapsulated inside a 5-meter diameter payload fairing, is mated to an Atlas V booster inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex-41. All Photos Credit: ULA

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