At 8:07 p.m. ET, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, carrying the U.S. military's X-37B spacecraft to unprecedented heights. However, it is still unclear exactly where the spacecraft will go in space.

For a long time, the activities of the X-37B in space have become an attractive and hotly discussed topic in the space research community, with amateur researchers racing to track its whereabouts and share hypotheses about its activities.

Resembling a miniature NASA space shuttle with covered windows, the X-37B is reusable and fully autonomous. It is known for conducting research on concepts such as transmitting solar power from space to Earth, or the effects of radiation on food seeds grown off Earth.

This mission, which is also the 7th space trip of the X-37B spacecraft, promises to bring even more exciting results than previous flights.

Space flight 'further than ever'

This is the first time the X-37B has been launched on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, one of the world's most powerful operational rockets, capable of sending spacecraft into higher orbits than ever before.

Previously, the X-37B was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle and an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance - a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The combined thrust of these two rockets is even less than that of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

Paul Graziani, CEO of COMSPOC, a company that tracks objects in space, said the Falcon Heavy launch could send the X-37B to more distant orbits, possibly even to the moon or Mars. If the X-37B travels deeper into space than previous flights, it will be harder for observers on Earth to pinpoint its location.

If the US military does not want the X-37B to be tracked, the vehicle can be hidden under the glare of the sun or in other ways, including changing its location frequently, according to Mr. Graziani. In previous flights, the X-37B has demonstrated its ability to perform many operations in space.

COMSPOC will try to locate the X-37B if it moves into geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth and most major communications satellites are not operating. That’s where the company has focused its sensors to track satellites, Graziani and Bob Hall, the company’s director of operations integration, said.

Space Technology Innovation

General Chance Saltzman, commander of the US Space Force, said the X-37B will help the US conduct research experiments on current and upcoming space activities, as well as "borderline" experiments.

These experiments include Seeds-2, a NASA experiment designed to help astronauts survive on future, larger space missions. The experiment will “expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environments of long-duration spaceflight” and builds on research conducted on previous X-37B missions.

Growing food in harsh, soilless environments in space is crucial for astronauts on long-term missions to the Moon or beyond, such as places where it is difficult to source new food sources.

Regarding this mission, it is unclear how long the X-37B spacecraft will stay in orbit. Previously, each X-37B flight was longer than the previous one.

The autonomous X-37B’s final flight into space ended in November 2022 after nearly 909 consecutive days in space. On that sixth mission, the spacecraft carried experimental technology designed by the US Navy to convert solar energy and beam it back to Earth.

The X-37B has spent more than 3,700 days in space on other unmanned missions. When it returns to Earth, the spacecraft will land on a runway, like a plane swooping down from the sky.

Ngoc Anh (according to NASA, CNN, Reuters)