In Washington, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch vehicle successfully lifted the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B test platform to orbit on Dec. 28. This was the X-37B’s seventh launch, and the Boeing-built spacecraft serves as a testbed for new technologies for both the Defense Department and NASA, with its first flight occurring in 2010. The launch was “a very important mission,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of Space Launch Delta 45, and included experiments such as NASA’s Seeds-2, testing how different seeds react to long-term exposure to radiation in space. X-37B’s most recent mission, OTV-6, returned in November 2022, with a service module that allowed it to carry more experiments than previous iterations.
The X-37B’s recent mission included a small satellite developed by the Air Force Academy, and was the second to fly on a SpaceX rocket, the first to lift off on the company’s Falcon Heavy vehicle, and the sixth to be carried by SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The OTV-6 mission also included experiments such as the Naval Research Laboratory’s Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module experiment and two NASA projects similar to Seeds. Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on significant acquisition, budget, and policy challenges.
