Το διαβόητο σκάφος της U.S. Air Force, το top secret X37-B Space Plane προσγειώθηκε στην Αεροπορική Βάση Vandenberg στην California μετά από 674 ημέρες σε τριχιά.
Διαβάστε τι είπε ο ρεπόρτερ του NBC, Devin Coldewey για όσα ξέρουμε:
What is known is that the X-37B has no human pilot, or at least not one in its windowless cockpit. It’s operated remotely and lands on its own. The details of its launches aren’t secret, but nor are they particularly interesting: it rode an Atlas V booster on Dec. 12, 2012, and assumed orbit about 180 miles above the Earth. That last part, notably, was figured out by a network of curious astronomers, not released publicly by the Air Force.
The plane’s size means there isn’t room on board for much except avionics equipment, fuel for the thrusters, and a mysterious cavity about the size of a truck bed that could contain all manner of sensors, experiments, hardware — perhaps even a plant or some bacterial colonies. Of course, no one can be sure what’s inside”.
Διαβάστε τι είπε ο κος David Baker, συντάκτης του British Planetary Society και του περιοδικού Spaceflight magazine, που πιστεύει πως το X-37B είχε αποστολή αναγνώρισης.
“Space-to-space surveillance is a whole new ball game made possible by a finessed group of sensors and sensor suites,” είπε ο Baker στο BBC το 2012 και “we think the X-37B may be [using these] to maintain a close watch on China’s nascent space station [Tiangong-1].”
Ο δε κος Brian Weeden, τεχνικός σύμβουλος του Secure World Foundation και πρώην τροχιακός αναλυτής της USAF πιστεύει πως: “A typical spy satellite is in a polar orbit, which gives you access to the whole Earth,” όπως είπε στο BBC News.
“The X-37B is in a much lower inclination which means it can only see a very narrow band of latitudes, and the only thing that’s of real interest in that band is the Middle East and Afghanistan. Is it spying on Tiangong-1? I really don’t think so. I think the fact that their orbits intersect every now and again – that’s just a co-incidence. If the US really wanted to observe Tiangong, it has enough assets to do that without using X-37B.”