Flight automation – One of the keys to the success of the first two X-37B missions has been the advanced flight automation software flying the mini-shuttle. Virtually every aspect of the OTV's operations have been automated for ground controllers, up to and including re-entry and landing. This has clearly allowed controllers to minimize maneuvering fuel usage, allowing the requirement-mandated 270-day missions originally planned to be pushed to almost twice that duration on OTV-2's maiden flight.
So just what were the OTVs doing on their flights? It may be that the X-37s are doing a bit of everything while on-orbit. One real possibility is that an optical sensor package like the ORS-1/USA-231 reconnaissance satellite might be aboard, able to image both ground and co-orbital targets. Electronic/communications intercept payloads are also a distinct possibility. Designed from the start to be capable of refueling friendly satellites in orbit, the X-37B might also be testing its capability to act as an on-orbit replacement carrier for small "NanoSatellite" constellations should U.S. satellites be knocked out by hostile forces. Finally, the OTVs may also be functioning as killer spacecraft in their own right, using something like the 1980s "Brilliant Pebbles" interceptors as the weapons. The X-37B's cargo bay makes it possible to carry examples of all the systems mentioned above, along with the experimental payloads mentioned by McKinney.
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So just what were the OTVs doing on their flights? It may be that the X-37s are doing a bit of everything while on-orbit. One real possibility is that an optical sensor package like the ORS-1/USA-231 reconnaissance satellite might be aboard, able to image both ground and co-orbital targets. Electronic/communications intercept payloads are also a distinct possibility. Designed from the start to be capable of refueling friendly satellites in orbit, the X-37B might also be testing its capability to act as an on-orbit replacement carrier for small "NanoSatellite" constellations should U.S. satellites be knocked out by hostile forces. Finally, the OTVs may also be functioning as killer spacecraft in their own right, using something like the 1980s "Brilliant Pebbles" interceptors as the weapons. The X-37B's cargo bay makes it possible to carry examples of all the systems mentioned above, along with the experimental payloads mentioned by McKinney.
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