X-37B OTV mission #4

[DocM]

May 20 from Cape Canaveral

Besides what the USAF won't talk about, it will carry 100+ material samples to see how well they endure the space environment.

Not mentioned in the article, this X-37B will also be equipped with advanced Hall Effect electric thrusters, think impulse drives, which will allow it to change orbits and altitudes while using a relatively small amount of propellant - usually argon, xenon etc.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-13/the-secret-air-force-space-drone-heads-back-into-orbit

Hall Effect thrusters

firing

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I hope they publish the test results for the thrusters. These now have no moving parts which is great for durability. Although the top speeds are quite high, 160,000+ kilometers per hour, the low thrust levels require substantial time to accelerate. Reality meets science fiction...   

[DocM]

You should see MSNW's ELF thrusters, which can use either elemental or molecular propellants and produce higher thrusts - even in upper atmospheres. They're being funded under NASA's NextSTEP program.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

You should see MSNW's ELF thrusters, which can use either elemental or molecular propellants and produce higher thrusts - even in upper atmospheres. They're being funded under NASA's NextSTEP program.

I will check these out...thanx...

[DocM]

I will check these out...thanx...

No prob. BTW: the USAF funded ELF too. Even before NASA.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

So far it appears to be a pretty good launch.....but when the commentator mentions RD180, all I had was a vision of a grenade...shook my head and all is well. A lot of mass being launched. Seconds after liftoff, the slow acceleration makes you question things for a few seconds. Good show....Cheers

 

http://spaceflightnow.com/

[Draggendrop Veteran]

There are some pretty neat projects on board....material science experiments, multiple propulsion experiments, Lightsail cube sat from the Planetary Society (Carl Sagan founded), radiation experiments and.....a Linux based web server in space....Cheers...

 

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/05/atlas-v-x-37b-spaceplane-launch/

[DocM]

If the LightSail demo works a much larger one will fly on Falcon Heavy about April 2016.

http://sail.planetary.org

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I have planetary.org bookmarked...will be following (command center) when sail is deployed...fun project...Cheers

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Just as a side note...this experiment (LightSail) is a success so far...first telemetry rxed by east and west coast stations....first cubesat data here...

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxYHT0AQBBBjTGE5TEFSOURiMlE/view

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Lightsail has gone into X37 "stealth" mode.........actually a software glitch and they are hoping for a reboot shortly...accumulator data crash...effects telemetry data transmission...hope it is up soon....

 

http://www.space.com/29502-lightsail-solar-sail-software-glitch.html

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The orbit for the X-37B has been discovered.....for now.....

 

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/27/x-37b-spaceplanes-orbit-discovered/

[DocM]

That'll change fast. This one has Hall ion thrusters and can change orbits using little fuel.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

That'll change fast. This one has Hall ion thrusters and can change orbits using little fuel.

Quick question...I was checking the specs for the X-37 B...loaded looks like 11,000 lbs....could not Falcon 9 v1.1 lift this to LEO and while on this, how about dream chaser with folded wings and approx 25,000 lbs on a v1.1 or v1.2....just a thought...Cheers

[DocM]

Yes to both.

[T3X4S]

Elemental Propellant ?  That just sounds fast !

[DocM]

Ion and plasma drives have low thrust so velocity takes a while to accumulate, but they can run months on end and the exhaust velocity usually runs 5 to 80 km/s. The claim for VASIMR is up to 300 km/s.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Lightsail has gone into X37 "stealth" mode.........actually a software glitch and they are hoping for a reboot shortly...accumulator data crash...effects telemetry data transmission...hope it is up soon....

 

http://www.space.com/29502-lightsail-solar-sail-software-glitch.html

Lightsail back on line after several days of silence. The problem appears to be a buffer overrun. Since comm burst are unreliable as far as message length, a reboot everyday for the last few days appears to work. If all goes well, sail will be deployed on Tuesday 2 June 2015 to monitor stats of solar wind as an "engine". Also waiting for a few photo downloads from the shoe box sized craft. The team is quite excited about it...

 

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2015/20150531-lightsail-possible-tuesday-deploy.html