Hello, Guest!
  • Friday, November 22, 2024

Boeing-Built X-37B Space Plane Breaks Program Mark of 717 Days


Boeing_X-37B_Military_Space_Plane

A Boeing-built (NYSE: BA) space plane has recorded nearly 719 days in orbit since the U.S. Air Force launched the unmanned spacecraft in September 2017 aboard a SpaceX-made Falcon 9 rocket from Space Coast in Florida, the Space website reported Monday.

The X-37B space plane for the Orbital Test Vehicle 5 mission broke the spaceflight duration record of the OTV-4 mission, which logged a total of 717 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes in orbit. Air Force officials wrote in a fact sheet that X-37B seeks to support the service branch’s experiments and initiatives to demonstrate reusable spacecraft technologies.

The officials added that some of the technologies being assessed in the program are guidance, navigation and control, avionics, advanced propulsion systems, autonomous orbital flight, re-entry and landing and thermal protection systems.

The 29-foot-long space plane is a solar-powered vehicle with a wingspan of approximately 15 feet and a launch weight of 11,000 pounds.

Video of the Day

Related Articles

Anduril Expands Solid Rocket Motor Supply Base With Adranos Acquisition; Brian Schimpf Quoted M&A Activity

Anduril Expands Solid Rocket Motor Supply Base With Adranos Acquisition; Brian Schimpf Quoted

Anduril Industries has acquired Adranos in a transaction that makes the Costa Mesa, California-based defense technology company a solid rocket motor supplier to principal contractors providing missiles, hypersonics and other propulsion technologies for some of the major programs of the Department of Defense. Established in 2015, Mississippi-based Adranos developed ALITEC, an aluminum-lithium alloy fuel that

L3Harris Inks $4.7B Cash Deal to Buy Aerojet Rocketdyne; Christopher Kubasik, Eileen Drake Quoted M&A Activity

L3Harris Inks $4.7B Cash Deal to Buy Aerojet Rocketdyne; Christopher Kubasik, Eileen Drake Quoted

L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has agreed to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) for approximately $4.7 billion in cash, or $58 per share, in a transaction that will allow the aerospace and defense contractor to further advance innovation and continue to deliver missile defense systems, hypersonics and other capabilities to the Department of Defense. Melbourne, Florida-based

Leonardo DRS, RADA to Merge in All-Stock Deal; William Lynn Quoted M&A Activity

Leonardo DRS, RADA to Merge in All-Stock Deal; William Lynn Quoted

Leonardo DRS and Israel-based RADA Electronic Industries (Nasdaq: RADA) have agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction to form a public company focused on providing advanced sensing and force protection systems in the defense market. The boards of directors of both companies approved the deal and both parties expect to close the transaction in the