When an X-37B spacecraft built by Boeing is put into orbit for the sixth flight of the test program this month, it will try a technology that has been in development for more than a decade: space-based solar energy.
An experiment designed by the US Naval Research Laboratory will convert solar energy into a microwave beam that could be transmitted to the ground. If such an energy beam system could be perfected, concentrated microwave energy from space could potentially be converted into electricity for distant military outposts.
The Pentagon as early as 2007 issued a report saying the U.S. military could be an "anchor tenant customer" for space-based power generation systems. This report piggyback on one NASA study written a decade earlierAssessment of the feasibility of wireless energy transmission from space.
The power beaming experiment of the X-37B would follow on from a small test that was carried out on board the International Space Station in February. During this demonstration, astronauts used the Naval Research Laboratory's light-emitting rectification antenna. known as LEctennato convert a wireless data signal into enough electrical energy for an LED light to light up.
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo7w0D6vz5g (/ embed)
The X-37B program itself is a great experiment. Over the past decade, the Pentagon's two spacecraft have completed five autonomous test missions in orbit, including a 780-day marathon flight that ended in a runway landing last October. The total time of the program in space is 2,865 days – or seven years and 10 months.
In the past, the stubby-winged vehicle was launched into space using the United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket or the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The next takeoff will be on an Atlas 5, which is scheduled to take off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on May 16.
The purpose of the reusable spacecraft has been kept a little secret, but in recent years military officials have become more open to using it as a test bed for military space technologies, including novel approaches to propulsion and communication.
"This X-37B mission will involve more experiments than any previous mission," said Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said in a press release today. "This launch also shows the collaboration of the department that crosses the boundaries for reusable space systems."
Although the mini-space shuttles are considered to be assets of the Department of the Air Force, the recently created U.S. Space Force will be responsible for the launch, orbit, and landing for this mission, known as OTV-6 or USSF -7 is known.
General John "Jay" Raymond, chief of space, said the X-37 team "continues to show the kind of lean, agile, and forward-looking technology development that we as a nation need in space."
This is the first X-37B to perform experiments in a service module at the rear of the aircraft.
"By integrating a service module into this mission, we can further expand the spacecraft's capabilities and conduct more experiments than any previous mission," said Randy Walden, director and program director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.
In addition to the power beaming experiment, the X-37 will conduct two NASA experiments to measure the effects of the high-radiation space environment on samples of spacecraft materials and on seeds used to grow food.
The mission is also used FalconSat-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory. FalconSat-8 will carry five experimental payloads, including an advanced engine system.
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKbtH73OZB8 (/ embed)
