I had no idea this existed and yeah it really does look a lot like NASA’s shuttles 🥲
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The U.S. military’s X-37B space plane blasted off Thursday on another secretive mission that’s expected to last at least a couple of years.
Like previous missions, the reusable plane resembling a mini space shuttle carried classified experiments.
The space plane took off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at night, more than two weeks late because of technical issues.
It marked the seventh flight of an X-37B, which has logged more than 10 years in orbit since its debut in 2010.
Space Force officials would not say how long this orbital test vehicle would remain aloft or what’s on board other than a NASA experiment to gauge the effects of radiation on materials.
Built by Boeing, the X-37B resembles NASA’s retired space shuttles.
The original article contains 244 words, the summary contains 127 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Team Rocket blasting off again!
Ahhh the X-37B, the fully automated Baby Shuttle capable of staying in space for years and changing its orbit when required. It’s a neat little fella.
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If this is for a NASA experiment why isn’t NASA doing it and why isn’t it public?
If this is for a NASA experiment why isn’t NASA doing it and why isn’t it public?
No one said it’s for a NASA experiment…
Allow me to introduce you to the article.
Space Force officials would not say how long this orbital test vehicle would remain aloft or what’s on board other than a NASA experiment to gauge the effects of radiation on materials.
Oh, I had read the article summary but had missed the mention of NASA in that line. My bad.
For what it’s worth, that partially answers your question. That particular experiment is public, that’s why they’re able to give some details on it (though I’m guessing they can’t give all details, like duration, since it could divulge info about the X-37B’s mission). The rest of the experiments onboard are classified.
My assumption is that NASA experiment is on this vessel rather than a NASA vessel due to the duration of the mission (since it’s going up anyway and stays up for long periods of time, NASA might as well throw an unmanned radiation experiment onboard if they can).
It’s cool.
I was curious was it a NASA experiment that had secret elements or they were doing secret experiments anyway and asked NASA if they had anything in the tank to fit those parameters.
