Mysterious X-37B Mystery Solved
The mysterious craft, the X-37B’s purpose has been discovered by astronomers about a month after it first took off, stowed away within the Atlas Rocket. The strange object was largely a mystery among all but top Boeing officials.
The X-37B was a military project created by the Air Force in conjunction with Boeing. It’s hard to believe that so much mystery was wrapped up in a small 29 foot box. As it nestled in the nose cone of an Atlas rocket on the landing pad, many news agencies speculated on what it could possibly be. And now, thanks to the efforts of astronomers worldwide, we can finally know what the object’s purpose is.
It looks sort of like a futuristic space shuttle, but actually is only about one fourth the size of one. It’s equipped with an array of mysterious machinery, and enough of a power system to leave it in orbit for at least nine months. Originally thought to be a possible secret space weapons platform, the device raised several questions from reporters. What they met was a brick wall. And yet now that mystery has been solved by Ted Molczan. The astronomer from Toronto held an interview with the New York Times stating that the X-37B was going to be passing through very specific regions around Earth once every four days. This behavior has been seen before , in spy satellites.
The orbital ring it will be taking means it will be hovering about Afghanistan, Ian, Iraq, Pakistan, and North Korea. If the device were a spy satellite, these would be ideal locations for it to visit in order to record information about these regions. The craft will be passing over various parts of the Earth recording information from space worldwide and making a full orbit around the planet every 90 minutes. Of course most of this time will be spent recording the Ocean, but the X-37B, if it were a spy satellite, would be recording useful information about some very key points of interest to the US military and its allies.
And the object is said to be visible with the naked eye from Earth on cloudless nights. This explanation is in keeping with the official story, which suggests that the system is not a new weapon of any kind but rather will be attempting to assist operations on the ground. Though they do not explicitly state that the system will be used for gathering intelligence, it isn’t a giant leap from “help” to “gather information” in military lingo.
The project came to fruition one year ago, as the module was rocketed into space, but it began in 1999 under the guidance of NASA. Eventually its funding was cut and in 2006 the project was moved over to the Air Force where it found military applications. Of course this is a sigh of relief for many, but there are still some rumors that this explanation is merely a cover for another purpose that the project will be covering.