X-37B. (Photo : USAF)
The U.S. Air Force has shot down rumors its hush-hush X-37B spaceplane (spy plane?), which has been orbiting the Earth since on May 20, 2015, will land any time soon. It also didn't say what this spaceplane is doing and why it's still up there.
The only thing the air force said about X-37B is that this robot spaceplane is now nearing two years in orbit, and "is not preparing for landing as some reports have suggested."
"The X-37 is still on-orbit. The program is conducting a regularly scheduled exercise this week," said the Air Force in a statement.
Rumors claimed the X-37B was to have landed on Feb. 14 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.
Since the X-37B is still spinning about the planet, this means the spaceplane will certainly shatter the world space endurance record by a spacecraft on March 25 when it exceeds the current record of 674 days in orbit to reach 675 days.
The X-37B is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV). Its latest mission, called OTV-4, blasted-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on May 20, 2015 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
As with the previous three OTV missions, the Air Force remained tight-lipped about the purpose of this latest mission. Speculation abounds, however.
There are persistent reports the Air Force is testing a working version of the controversial EmDrive electromagnetic thruster aboard the OTV-4 mission.
If true, the report of an EmDrive aboard the X-37B might help explain why the spaceplane remains in orbit well past its announced mission life of 200 days.
Also called a radio frequency (RF) resonant cavity thruster, an EmDrive or Em Drive uses no reaction mass and emits no directional radiation to generate thrust. British aerospace engineer Roger Shawyer designed the EmDrive in 2001 and has promoted the idea through his company, Satellite Propulsion Research.
While the Air Force hasn't confirmed speculation an EmDrive is being tested aboard the spaceplane, what is certain is the X-37B is testing a prototype "Hall Effect Thruster" (HET) in support of the Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellite program.
