The 11,000-Pound OTV Made An Autonomous Landing At Vandenberg
AFB
After 244 days in space since its launch April 22 from Cape
Canaveral, FL, the X-37B orbital test vehicle landing marks the Air
Force's latest step in experimental test missions to improve the
service's space capabilities, officials said here Dec. 6.
X-37B Inspected After Landing
The 11,000-pound OTV made an autonomous landing at Vandenberg
Air Force Base, CA, Dec. 3 at 0116 PST, allowing the Air Force to
begin evaluation of its functions as a satellite communications,
weather and material technology asset, said Deputy Under Secretary
of the Air Force for Space Programs Richard McKinney. "We're in a
very serious and important business of providing national security
space capabilities for our nation," Mr. McKinney said. "Some of
those capabilities are state-of-the-art, highly complex and very
technical, ... and for its first flight, we're extremely pleased
with the outcome of the X-37B."
Mr. McKinney said the ability to examine such high-tech
technologies as space situational awareness, intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance, and satellite development before
they're made operational is a long-sought-after capability that the
X-37B provides. "Now we can test those capabilities long in advance
of putting them in operational space," he said, adding that the
X-37B functions like other satellites with operators on Earth
monitoring its travels -- with one fundamental difference. "The
vehicle was commanded to re-enter, and there's a pre-determined
routine to fold up the solar array and then do its re-entry burn to
reorient to the right position to survive the heat during
re-entry," said Lt. Col. Troy Giese, the X-37B program manager for
the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.
Lt. Col. Giese explained that there is no way to "take over" the
vehicle upon landing, but 30th Space Wing range controllers at
Vandenberg AFB could terminate the end of the flight had the X-37B
broken any of the pre-determined safety boundaries. "The ability to
bring a small vehicle that's able to launch, operate and land
autonomously is really quite an achievement," Mr. McKinney said.
"Hopefully we'll be able to provide a new way for us to develop
experiments and technologies for our national security."
Slated to launch in spring 2011, the X-37B OTV-2 orbit will
incorporate lessons learned from OTV-1, Mr. McKinney said. "The
vehicle performed everything it was asked to do this particular
flight, so now we need to see how the materials operated in this
long duration and examine the vehicle, since it was designed to
operate for long periods of time," he added.