The seventh mission of the US Air Force’s . and the US Space Force. The next mission will be Orbital Test Vehicle 7.

The mission, called USSF-52, will conduct a wide range of tests, including operating reusable spacecraft in new orbital modes, experiments with space detection technologies, and studies of the effects of radiation on materials provided by NASA and the Space Force. he said in a statement. November 8 statement

“We are excited to expand the capabilities of the reusable X-37B,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Fritschen, director of the X-37B program.

NASA’s onboard experiment, known as Seeds-2, will expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight. In June 2018, SpaceX signed a $130 million contract to launch USSF-52. The mission was originally planned for 2021 but was postponed due to payload and range availability.

Last mission broke endurance record

The final X-37B mission, OTV-6, launched aboard United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 in May 2020 and landed in November 2022 after setting a new endurance record of 908 days in orbit.

The X-37B spaceplane is a derivative of the X-37A developed by NASA in the late 1990s for deployment from the Space Shuttle. Later, the program was transferred to the Ministry of Defense. There are two X-37B spacecraft that were originally designed for 270-day missions but far exceeded that goal after the spacecraft’s first mission in 2010.

The Air Force had kept the X-37B secret for a decade, but now the Space Force is showing it off. Source