US secret space drone will fly into space on Russian engines

April 30 2020 9

The American company United Launch Alliance begins preparations for its Atlas 5 launch vehicle for the next launch of the X-37B military spacecraft (spacecraft). It is reported by the American specialized online publication Spaceflight Now.

On April 30, 2020, ULA specialists lifted the first stage of the Atlas 5 LV to a mobile launch platform at Cape Canaveral, having begun preparing it for the flight, originally scheduled for May 16. The first step, 107 feet (32,6 meters) high, was delivered to the ULA Integration Center and raised to a vertical position by a crane. It is equipped with a Russian-made RD-180 engine.

Soon, the ULA team will add the second Centaur to it. After installing this, a series of checks and tests will be carried out and in early May, laying of the payload under the fairing will begin.

However, the planned launch date has already shifted by four days - on May 20, 2020. However, the exact start time has not yet been announced.

In the arsenal of the military, there are two X-37Vs from the Boeing company. These are reusable devices designed to operate in low Earth orbit for many years. They are launched using the launch vehicle, and they are landing independently on a standard runway.

The X-37B is in the shape of a small space shuttle. This is a robotic spaceship that flies without a crew and can carry small satellites and other payloads inside its compartment the size of a pickup truck.

This launch will be the sixth flight of the X-37B since 2010. The last X-37B mission, which lasted more than two years, culminated in a landing at the Kennedy Space Center at the end of October 2019. Four X-37B missions were carried out using the Atlas 5 LV, and one on the SpaceX LV Falcon 9.

We remind you that Atlas V fly on Russian RD-180 engines. In 2020, 6 such units should be delivered to the United States. Recently, the head of ULA Tori Bruno wrote in his Twitter account that the Russian RD-180 rocket engine is a technological miracle. But what is the expediency of selling rocket engines to the Americans, with the help of which they implement their secret military program directed, including, against Russia, we cannot understand.

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monman

0

April 30 2020 17: 15

Either you cannot legally ban it, or the money does not smell.
1. Arkharov
  
  -2
  
  April 30 2020 18: 34
  
  And on what grounds to ban?
  1. monman
    
    -1
    
    1 May 2020 02: 21
    
    There are rumors in Russia that Russia is selling its engines on the condition that it is not for the Pentagon. I am not aware of this condition, but rather, this is not true. Therefore, my comment on the ban.
    1. Arkharov
      
      -1
      
      1 May 2020 09: 20
      
      And where did you decide that the X-37B is a Pentagon?
      1. monman
        
        -1
        
        1 May 2020 15: 14
        
        And where did you decide that the X-37B is a Pentagon?
        
        From Wiki, firstly, and secondly, the Pentagon is very proud of this toy and does not hide it - there are many articles.
        
        The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable space drone. It is launched into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and lands like a space plane. The X-37 is operated by the United States Space Forces to perform in-orbit flights in space flight, designed to demonstrate reusable space technologies. This is a 120% scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40. The X-37 began as a NASA project in 1999, and then was transferred to the U.S. Department of Defense in 2004. His first flight was during a fall test in 2006. X-37B completed five orbital missions.
steelmaker

-2

April 30 2020 18: 00

... they are implementing their secret military program, directed, including, against Russia, we cannot understand.

And hucksters have no homeland.
Sergey Latyshev

+1

1 May 2020 12: 02

And then everyone wrote that the enemy X-37B was digging for us. Now it starts on "our" engines ...
While the media are convincing that the trenches are the very thing for the people. The elite makes bucks on everything that reaches out ....
Potapov

0

2 May 2020 09: 08

It seems that our ruling universal people limited the use of engines to civilian projects ...
Or again we write 7, the rest is in the mind ...
Cyril

-1

3 May 2020 07: 22

Not long ago, Rogozin said that Roscosmos would not cooperate with Musk because the latter works for the Pentagon.

And there it is.