Spacewatch: US military spaceplane poised for liftoff
Boeing X-37B to study impact of radiation and other space effects on seeds and other materials
Stuart Clark
Thu 14 May 2020 16.30 EDT
The US’s uncrewed X-37B military spaceplane is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral air force station, in Florida, on 16 May.
The Boeing craft will be carried into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. This will be its sixth launch, and the first to be the responsibility of the newly-created US Space Force. For the first time, the X-37B will be fitted with a service module that will increase the amount of experiments it can carry.
The module will augment the spacecraft’s cargo bay. Alongside classified work, the mission will perform two Nasa experiments to study the results of radiation and other space effects on various materials and plant seeds, and a US naval research laboratory experiment to transform solar energy into radio waves, which can then be transmitted to the ground.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/may/14/spacewatch-us-military-spaceplane-poised-for-liftoff
