When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
A secret space aeroplane operate on by the United States Space Force ( USSF ) has landed back on Earth after spending a phonograph recording 908 days in range . But what it was doing above our point rest shrouded in whodunit .
The uncrewed X-37B space plane touched down atNASA ’s Kennedy Space Station on Nov. 12 at 5:22 a.m. ET , conclude the sixth mission that it and another identical vehicle have completed since the first flight in 2010 . Details on its activities during the record - bankrupt stumble are sparse , but officials claim it was conducting a telephone number of scientific experimentation at around 249 Roman mile ( 400 kilometers ) aboveEarth .
The X-37B after landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 12
The X-37B was first design by Boeing for NASA , before being conform for usage by the U.S military . It is an airplane - space vehicle hybrid that in many ways resemble a miniature space shuttle . For its 6th charge , separate as Orbital Test Vehicle-6 ( OTV-6 ) , it was launched vertically while perched atop an Atlas V arugula in May 2020 . The distance aeroplane has now spent roughly 10 years in orbit across all of its mission , covering approximately 1.3 billion miles ( 2.1 billion km ) . The new 908 - twenty-four hours flight smash the 780 - day record for a space woodworking plane in uninterrupted orbit , which was also set by the X-37B during an earlier mission .
Related:10 thing we know about the secret X-37B space airplane
" The X-37B continue to fight the boundaries of experimentation , enable by an elite government and industry team behind the panorama , " Lt . Col . Joseph Fritschen , X-37B program director at the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office , say in a statement . " The ability to conduct on - orbit experiment and contribute them home safely for in - depth analysis on the ground has proven worthful for the Department of the Air Force and scientific community . The addition of the service module on OTV-6 allowed us to host more experiment than ever before . "
The United States Space Force hasrevealed only a few morsels of informationabout the experiment conducted aboard the craft during its most recent trajectory . These admit a trial by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory that successfully harvest illumination from the sun before beam it back toEarthas microwave ; and the deployment of an electromagnetically steered training satellite contrive by U.S. Air Force cadets . NASA also provided an experiment , predict Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space ( METIS-2 ) , that researched the effects of outer space on dissimilar materials .
No other detail of the experiments on board were revealed , although this has n’t give up rivals from engaging in speculation . Dmitry Rogozin , the former head of Russia ’s Roscosmos space office , claimed in an April interviewwith the Russian country - possess news channel Russia-24 that the craft could be being used for spying or for carrying weapons of mass destruction . Chinese military expert and commentator Song Zhongping echoed this sentiment , state theSouth China Morning Postthat the trade ’s power to alter its field mid - flight gave it the ability to spy on other satellites or on Earth - found targets , as well as launching attacks from orbit .
— How deadly is Putin ’s nuclear ' Satan 2 ' projectile ?
— The 22 weirdest military weapons
— US Air Force says it will test off-the-wall ' hypersonic ' weapon this month
" If the X-37B can be laden with small satellite , it can also be loaded with weapons . It may also be able-bodied to be fitted with automatonlike arms to catch other satellites that are in orbit , " Song tell .
Former Pentagon official Heather Wilson has also notice on the craft ’s ability to alter its orbit , a capableness she tell was due to the significant drag father by its low Earth celestial orbit .
" Which have in mind our opponent do n’t know — and that happens on the far side of the Earth from our adversaries — where it ’s going to come up next , " Wilsonsaid at the Aspen Security Forum in 2019 . " And we know that that drives them nuts . And I ’m really happy about that . "
Chinaalso has a occult distance sheet , which was launched into area from a Long March 5B rocket engine on Aug. 4 . Much like the X-37B , much of what it is doing in orbit is unknown .
