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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Banks PLK" data-source="post: 14174863" data-attributes="member: 279320"><img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011lj64.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is a US Air Force unmanned, space plane whose purpose is shrouded by secrecy.<img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011lj7s.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Since its first launch on 22 April 2010 speculation has been rife about  its mission, with suggestions ranging from an anti-satellite weapon to a  spy plane.<img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011lj9f.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />The craft was originally developed by Nasa as the X-40 experimental  craft. It was transferred to the military in 2004, when it became a  classified project.<img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011ljc5.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011ljgm.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011ljkw.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011ljp7.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />When the first X-37B touched down on 3 December 2010, it became the  first US unmanned vehicle to return from space and land safely on its  own. <img src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfuture/624_351/images/live/p0/11/lj/p011ljwz.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Although the Air Force originally stated it was designed for missions up  to 270 days, its most recent flight  ended in June 2012 after 469 days.  In the early morning of 16 June, 2012, a top secret spaceplane made a  picture perfect landing at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  To those unfamiliar with the vehicle, it might have looked roughly  similar to the US space shuttle, the manned spacecraft that shuttled  astronauts into space for three decades.But this spaceplane,  called the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, is very different. While it looks  like a plane, is launched on a rocket, has a cargo bay and uses some of  the same technology as the shuttle, such as thermal shielding to  protect it during reentry, it is smaller and unmanned. It is designed to  stay in orbit for months on end and can automatically land back on  Earth. Perhaps more crucially, the Boeing-designed plane is operated by  the US Air Force and its mission is a closely held secret, prompting a  slew of speculation about its true purpose.Since the first X-37B  was launched in 2010, amateur satellite spotters have carefully followed  the robotic spacecraft’s orbit, while those unconnected with the  program have speculated that the plane could be anything from an  anti-satellite weapon to so-called “on demand reconnaissance,” shorthand  for a spy satellite that can be placed over any country in the world.  Compounding the mystery was the launch of a second vehicle in 2011,  which stayed in orbit for 469 days, long exceeding the Air Force’s  stated maximum requirement of 270 days for the spaceplane.Now, a  third launch is slated for 11 December, according to an Air Force  spokesperson, once again ramping up the rumour mill. So, what do we  actually know about the plane?Tactical responseEarly reports focused on the X-37B’s seeming resemblance, at least in size and weight, to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-20_Dyna-Soar" target="_blank">the X-20 Dynasoar</a>  (short for Dynamic Soarer), a 1950s-era hypersonic vehicle that was  envisioned for a variety of military missions, including bombing and  sabotaging enemy satellites. However, experts familiar with the X-37B  programme emphasized that its technology is actually closer to the  recently retired space shuttle (a <a href="http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/2011/CDReadymspace11_2426/PV2011_7315.pdf" target="_blank">fact reinforced by Boeings’ proposal for a crewed version of the vehicle</a> known as the X-37C). The Air Force blandly described the role of the X-37B in <a href="http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=16639" target="_blank">a factsheet given to media</a> as a "reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform”.The  Air Force also says the mini-shuttle has two objectives: testing  “reusable spacecraft technologies” and conducting “experiments which can  be returned to, and examined, on Earth”. Again, this is similar to the  stated aims of the space shuttle. But many forget that earlier craft  also had a secret military role. Although ostensibly a civilian program,  it conducted a series of missions from 1982-1992 on behalf of the  National Reconnaissance Office, carrying a series of classified spy  satellites.Similarly, most outside experts now agree that it’s  likely the robotic space plane is being used for some sort of secret  reconnaissance. “I think the guess that makes most sense is  quick-response tactical imaging, meaning hours to a couple of days from  request to delivery,” says Allen Thomson, a former CIA analyst.Thomson  says it is also possible that it could have a more mundane but useful  task, such as “maintaining up-to-date general purpose mapping imagery.”  However, if that is the case, Thomson says that it could be a waste of  money. “I think that the commercial satellites could and should do that  cheaper and better than X-37B,” he says. It is a view <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_weapons_and_global_security/space_weapons/technical_issues/the-x-37b-space-plane.html" target="_blank">backed by parts of the scientific community</a>.Indeed,  the X-37B launches comes in the middle of a larger debate about the  role of government-operated spy satellites, which have proven enormously  costly but can provide some of the most advanced imagery, versus  commercial satellite imagery. The US intelligence community recently  slashed its budget for commercial imagery, indicating that it was going  back to greater reliance on its own classified satellites.</blockquote>

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