The Space Force craft will attempt aerobraking for the first time
After nearly a year in orbit, the US Space Force's secretive X-37B is prepped to perform some fancy new maneuvers to alter its orbit and dump its service module before carrying on with more mysterious work., and others. The technique involves an elliptical orbit around a planet, using atmospheric drag and a tight periapsis to gradually reduce the orbit's maximum distance.
Its six previous missions have all gradually become longer: Its first in 2010 was less than a year, but since then, it's managed to achieve ato send the X-37B into orbit with a service module in the form of a ring-like attachment at the rear of the craft.It's not immediately clear if the service module on OTV-7 is of the same design, or if it's bigger.
This is a different method from the previous flight, which saw the service module separated prior to the X-37B returning to Earth, leaving the service module in orbit to"be disposed of in accordance with best practices," according to the Space Force.
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