Since 2020, the X-37 B is no longer alone in the world. The Chinese also seem to have a working shuttle. After a two-day test flight in 2020, its activity is now raising questions. It has been circling above our heads for 90 days without us knowing exactly what it is doing. The second launch was on Aug 4 in the Goby Desert aboard a Long March 2F rocket. No thunderous announcement from the Chinese authorities, just a terse press release.
The press releases from Boeing and the United States Space Force are also discreet and evasive about any activities conducted aboard the X-37B during those three years in orbit. If we rely on these press releases, among the experiments carried out we will mention one that consisted of converting solar energy into microwaves and one that evaluated the effects of exposure to space on different materials.
During its flight, the X-37B also used the small FalconSat-8 satellite, which is still in orbit. According to Christian Barbier, this laconicism is not surprising: “These are military projects that are classified as top secret. The American Army launched this space plane to test new technologies. China took over for the same reason. The reasons are strategic, but in the absence of any official communication, we can only speculate about the current and future use of these devices. They are probably equipped with very advanced observation techniques. It’s also possible they’re experimenting with Destruction Lasers. Who knows?”
Pierre Emmanuel Paulis, instructor at the Euro Space Center and President of the Mars Society Belgium confirms: “These are spy shuttles equipped with new generation cameras. We know that the X-37B passed the Chinese space station Being able to launch spy satellites more cheaply The advantage is always being able to land on the tarmac at Cape Kennedy airport It must be said that the Americans and Chinese are familiar with the war in the Ukraine and the threats from North Korea to do their job.”
One thing is for sure, the space shuttles we thought were housed in an aerospace history museum are indeed back, albeit more the size of large drones today.