Secret space plane lands at US air force base after unknown two-year mission

The X37B is not up to anything naughty. It's all good in fact, will help civilians and the military, maybe laying the ground work for new industries to come.

Zaphs first post on this thread is dead on. Don't worry about what the X37B is doing up there, be proud.

a reply to: Swills

The answer is simple-it's testing the effect of weightlessness on tiny screws, which can be used for many tasks ranging from watch making to watch repair. The Simpsons might've been onto something...

What's got people talking is why the brass have been so tight lipped about it. And if they ever found anything of value during this voyage the military will make good use of it long before the civilian applications are even considered, the Jet engine is a perfect example.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

The jet engine was developed at a time when the civilian aviation industry was virtually nonexistent. The first commercial jet started service in 1952. The first jet engines were developed in the late 1930s. Once you figure in the war/reconstruction times it's not THAT long. They weren't really viable until the mid 40s either.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: jaws1975

They're working on new optics technologies, and a few other things.

Growing crystals by any chance?

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
The X37B is not up to anything naughty. It's all good in fact, will help civilians and the military, maybe laying the ground work for new industries to come.

Zaphs first post on this thread is dead on. Don't worry about what the X37B is doing up there, be proud.

Meh -- It wouldn't surprise me if they were doing some classified military-tech testing -- e.g., defensive military tech and/or offensive military tech, or simply high-tech experiments that may have a variety of military AND civilian uses.

However, that would be par for the course. DARPA, for example, does a lot of secret classified stuff -- stuff that certainly has military applications, but stuff that has found its way out of DARPA (in time) and into our everyday lives and civilian life in general, such as GPS (and all associated GPS-supported tech), many aspects of the internet, and virtual reality. Astronomy research into gamma ray bursts owes the ability to these sense gamma ray bursts in the deep recesses of the universe to DARPA technology that was first used to detect nuclear weapon blasts on Earth.

If the military is doing any secret research with the X37B, it may take a while for the research to trickle down to civilian life, but it probably eventually would.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Thecakeisalie

The jet engine was developed at a time when the civilian aviation industry was virtually nonexistent. The first commercial jet started service in 1952. The first jet engines were developed in the late 1930s. Once you figure in the war/reconstruction times it's not THAT long. They weren't really viable until the mid 40s either.

Yes. It may be an unfortunate reality, but a reality nevertheless, but many things we use today (the jet engine, for example) owe the speed of their development to the military. There was very little civilian research being done on jet engines back in the 1930s, and if it wasn't for the military seeing a use for jet engines (and having the money to do the required R&D, and seeing a clear use for jet engines), the jet engine may have taken much longer to develop.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

It's mostly high tech experiments/development. We'll see it in the civilian world probably within 15-20years tops. I'd be willing to bet the optics portion sooner, but not quite as capable as what they keep for military use.

How is this thing able to fly in the atmosphere with those stubby wings? Shouldn't it drop like a brick?

a reply to: nrd101

Here's one for ya...

The shuttle was carrying the ark of the covenant. Remember Jericho? Brace yourselves for the sounding of the trumpets.

Black Knight?
2nd

a reply to: AllIsOne

There is a really long mathematical formula, one of those that's all weird symbols and letters.

It turns out that if you leave the symbols and take the letters out, they spell "Throw something fast enough and it will fly".

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Thecakeisalie

The jet engine was developed at a time when the civilian aviation industry was virtually nonexistent. The first commercial jet started service in 1952. The first jet engines were developed in the late 1930s. Once you figure in the war/reconstruction times it's not THAT long. They weren't really viable until the mid 40s either.

In hindsight I didn't provide the best example.

The point I was trying to make is that the military or well funded organizations will be at the top of the pecking order when these breakthroughs are made; and the benefits could take years before they reach a commercial level. A better example would be KERS- which was developed for formula 1 racing cars but it took a few years for it to be incorporated into commercial vehicles.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
The X37B is not up to anything naughty. It's all good in fact, will help civilians and the military, maybe laying the ground work for new industries to come.

Zaphs first post on this thread is dead on. Don't worry about what the X37B is doing up there, be proud.

I don't mean to be rude, but your post sounded frighteningly Orwellian!

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

It's mostly high tech experiments/development. We'll see it in the civilian world probably within 15-20years tops.

How have we collectively decided this is ok? Why don't we demand a reversal of this top down system, and have the cutting edge technologies used for the betterment of human life FIRST, then can trickle down to space exploration etc.

If it was reversed, I guarantee it would be a transparent program!

"The liberties of people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them." Patrick Henry

a reply to: Zaphod58

....or they just build a larger version

X-37C[edit]
In 2011, Boeing announced plans for a scaled-up variant of the X-37B, referring to it as the X-37C. The X-37C spacecraft would be between 165% and 180% of the size of the X-37B, allowing it to transport up to six astronauts inside a pressurized compartment housed in the cargo bay. Its proposed launch vehicle is the Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.[68] The X-37C could compete with Boeing's CST-100 commercial space capsule.[69]

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: Swills

The X-37 program was started by NASA, but taken over by DARPA in 2004...and I'm guessing the USAF is just doing all the grunt work.

Behind the Air Force's Secret Robotic Space Plane
www.popularmechanics.com...

Move over NASA. The U.S. Air Force has spent decades on the concept: an unmanned space plane that can be used to spy, reposition satellites, possibly even bomb targets, then return to base. A successful launch next week could turn that vision into a reality.

The moment the X-37B emerges from the shroud will mark the fulfillment of a dream the Department of Defense has been pursuing for nearly 50 years: the orbital flight of a military vehicle that combines an airplane's agility with a spacecraft's capacity to travel in orbit at 5 miles per second.

TOP SECRET NASA-BOEING SPACE PLANE SET TO LAND AFTER 667 DAYS IN ORBIT
www.breitbart.com...

General William Shelton, the commander of Air Force Space Command, recently told Space.com: “X-37 is doing great. I can’t tell you what it’s doing, but it’s doing great.”

*Shelton actually said this back in June/July

Whatever it is, I'm sure it's being used for subversive evil purposes. They don't know any other way to use technology.

a reply to: TerrorAlertRed

Except they didn't. Boeing went with a capsule design, and the C only exists on paper.

a reply to: Visitor2012

They are having trouble synchronizing all of the cell towers to everyone's brains using biorelevent feedback loops and are testing systems using the G.W.E.N tower network that was used on U.S. citizens in 1997-1998 called operation "CLEAN SWEEP" It was used to "AFFECT HUMAN EMOTIONS" Space is best for PYCOTRONICS testing, and we stupid ginny pigs dont need to question them, even though WE PAID FOR IT.