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Sixty years ago today, on August 19, 1960 — Korabl-Sputnik 2 — a prototype of the Vostok piloted spacecraft, was launched into Earth orbit, with the dogs Belka and Strelka on board. This was the first orbital flight of living beings with a successful return to Earth.

Also onboard were mice, insects, plants, fungal crops, seeds, microbes and other biological objects. This was the first orbital flight of living beings with a successful return to Earth.

Canine expedition

In celebrating the occasion, Russia’s Roscosmos explains that Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – a key leader in Soviet space development, personally supervised the preparation of the expedition.

For the flight, a dozen dogs were on the candidate list: weight – up to 13 pounds (6 kilograms), height – up to 35 centimeters, age – from two to six years, and light in color.

Outbreds Belka and Strelka proved to be the best in the group.

Life support test

The purpose of the mission was to study the effect of space flight on living organisms, as well as to work out spacecraft life support systems and reentry to Earth.

The flight lasted more than 25 hours, during which time the ship made 17 complete revolutions around the Earth.

A “pupnik” gift

After the flight, the dogs lived in the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine, from where they were showcased in kindergartens and schools.

A few months later Strelka gave birth to six healthy puppies.

One of them was presented to the wife of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline. Pushinka, Russian for “Fluffy,” was a “pupnik” of Strelka.

Belka and Strelka lived to a ripe old age and died a natural death. The journey of the pair of dogs made it possible to move forward on the possibility of human spaceflight around the Earth – the milestone making mission of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961.

 

Japan’s en route Hayabusa2 re-entry capsule is headed for a December 6 parachute landing in the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia.

Topped off with asteroid samples, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) capsule has been given landing clearance from the Australian Government – an Authorization of Return of Overseas-Launched Space Object, or AROLSO for short.

Asteroid specimens

Hayabusa2 has been spaceborne since its launch from Japan in December 2014 and is now chugging its way back to Earth via ion engine propulsion.

The capsule carries samples from a 4.5 billion year old asteroid. The space rock, asteroid Ryugu, was thoroughly investigated by the Japanese probe, dropping off mini-robots and gathering specimens of the object.

The sample collection is the first ever sub-surface asteroid specimens to be returned to Earth.

Japan/Australia partnership

Karen Andrews, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology formally approved the return of JAXA’s Hayabusa2.

“I am delighted to have given the tick of approval for the Hayabusa2 to land at the Woomera Prohibited Area and am thrilled JAXA has chosen to partner with us on the capsule’s re-entry,” Minister Andrews said in a statement.

Extended mission?

After dropping off its capsule, the main body of Hayabusa2 will return to deep space.

As about half of the fuel (xenon) for the ion engine is expected to remain at this time, there is the potential to continue on to a new, extended mission.

Two candidate objects are on the target list: 2001 AV43 and 1998 KY26. Both of the space rocks are very small with diameters of a few tens of meters and are referred to as “fast rotators” due to their extremely rapid rotation period of just 10 minutes. An object with these characteristics has never been visited by spacecraft before.

The arrival of Hayabusa2 at 2001 AV43 is scheduled for November 2029, and the arrival at 1998 KY26 is slated for July 2031.

According to Hayabusa2 controllers: “This mission and the budget must be approved in order to actually proceed with the extended mission. After safely delivering the capsule to Earth, we look forward to moving onwards to new challenges!”

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2856 duties and in between drill holes.

Roger Wiens, a geochemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, explains that on this Earth day in Mars exploration history 15 years ago, Spirit was approaching the summit of a roughly 328 feet (100-meter) tall “Husband Hill” in “Gusev Crater,” which it conquered by the end of that month.

Meanwhile, Opportunity was analyzing targets named after various berries and fruits on its way to “Erebus” crater in Meridiani Planum, Wiens says.

“At that point in time, Curiosity was little more than a gleam in a lot of engineers’ eyes and a pile of engineering drawings, Wiens adds. “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

Second drill hole

A new plan directs the rover’s arm to investigate a target off to the side of the first drill hole and prepare for eventual analysis of a second drill hole.

The robot’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite is slated to do a cleaning of gas chromatograph #4 along with collecting diagnostic information.

The rover’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will do a 10-point laser raster on “Tom Molach,” and Mastcam will image this target.

Curiosity’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) is also set to do an overnight integration on “Ayton,” and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is scheduled to image the target.

 

Dark nodules

“It is on the same block as the drill hole and is characterized by some dark nodules that were observed several times with ChemCam. The Hazcams will take several images, Mastcam will take a sun tau image and a crater rim extinction image, and Navcam will take a movie looking for dust devils,” Wiens notes.

Lastly, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) and the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) are on tap to also take data.

 

 

Dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

 

 

If you are an Unidentified Flying Object and alien visitation or abduction fan, it’s manna from heaven.

Videos showing Navy pilots encountering mysterious spherical objects publicly emerged in 2017 and 2018.

The videos were made public due to New York Times reporting and the efforts by To The Stars Academy – a research, development and media center for cutting edge science and technology. The Academy released first official U.S. government evidence and an analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

 

One of the UAP videos was taken in November 2004; the other two were shot in January 2015 – all captured by Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets with pilots utilizing Forward-Looking Infrared, or FLIR technology – hardware that detects heat and creates images.

The three outed UAP videos are tagged “FLIR1,” “Gimbal,” and “GoFast.”

 

 

Task force

Last week, the U.S. Department of Defense announced creation of a task force to analyze and understand the “nature and origins” of UAPs. The Department of the Navy, under the cognizance of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, will lead the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force (UAPTF).

The mission of the UAPTF “is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security,” the DoD states.

So take that…all you disbelievers that Earth isn’t on the receiving end of UFOs skimming and shimmering through our skies.

But before you set up greeting signs and start tossing out welcome mats, I asked some UFO specialists their views.

Cautiously optimistic

“The formation of a task force on UFOs is another welcome development in the recent renewed interest and attention to these reports by government agencies and political actors,” says Mark Rodeghier, President and Scientific Director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in Chicago, Illinois.

Rodeghier adds that without further details it is impossible to judge how well positioned the task force will be to seriously investigate reports, “but I remain cautiously optimistic for now.”

While Rodeghier understands the need for secrecy, “I would hope that as much information as possible is released to the public so we can all be informed on this potentially world-shattering subject,” he told Inside Outer Space.

Non-extraterrestrial reasons

“I have no doubt that military intelligence services around the world have always been interested in ‘UFO reports’ — whether or not a real ‘unexplainable’ phenomenon is  behind a few of them.”

That’s the view of Jim Oberg, noted space journalist, historian and a debunker of a slew of UFO sightings. He’s an admitted “life-long space nut” and professional “rocket scientist” that includes 20-plus years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s mission control in Houston, Texas.

There are a lot of non-extraterrestrial reasons why the Defense Department needs to be interested in “UFO reports,” Oberg suggests.

— First, identify and ameliorate instrumental ‘funnies’ in new sensory technology to make sure we don’t accidentally misinterpret [or overlook] future readings.

— Second, determine how detection “funnies” might be deliberately induced by hackers and real enemies, and what we can do to frustrate such efforts.

— Third, deliberately induce anomalous targets into the range of our own new detection/tracking technology to determine realistic reliability level of existing situational awareness systems.

— Fourth, test enemy detection systems with deliberate pokes to identify exploitatable weaknesses.

— Fifth, assess which reports from in or near potentially enemy nations are indicators of their classified military testing and operations that we need insight into.

— Sixth, at home and elsewhere in the world, determine which detections accidentally reveal highly classified operations of our own which might be revealed to enemy nations who are also looking for such indications, so as to improve our masking, misdirection, and stealthiness.

— Seventh, in so far as observations of UFO reports from adversary nations are indicators of leaked observable clues to military capabilities, do nothing to provoke such regimes from curtailing their own news media coverage of the “pseudo-UFOs.” Never announce how such, to-them innocent news items, can be exploited.

— Eighth, in so far as our own domestic UFO reports may be authentic indicators of classified military activities, purposefully create camouflage and masking reports to distract, confuse, or lull foreign observers and analysts.

Observation and detection technologies

“Perceptive observers of the UFO scene over the last two thirds of a century have noted a tell-tale feature of the evolution of reports,” Oberg says, “their nature has been changing, keeping uncanny pace with the progress in human observation and detection technologies.”

Oberg adds that, year by year, the “old UFOs” fade away just before the advent of new technologies that would have unambiguously documented them come on line, to be replaced by a new flavor of “anomalies” that precisely match the limits of vision of new technologies.

Not open-ended and ongoing

“I don’t think this [the task force] is as significant as some people are suggesting,” says Robert Sheaffer, writer and UFO skeptic. “It’s just a response to all the publicity generated by ‘To The Stars’ leaking the three Navy infrared videos, which the Pentagon later released.”

In the military, a “Task Force” is something that is put together to deal with a specific situation or problem, Sheaffer says. It is expected to produce a report and recommendations concerning that issue, and is disbanded when its work is complete.

“So this is not something open-ended and ongoing, like Project Blue Book. It does not suggest an ongoing government interest in unidentified objects,” Sheaffer observes. Conducted by the United States Air Force, Project Blue Book appraised the UFO situation starting in 1952 and officially closing down in 1970.

Intruding into their sandbox

On aviation maps, “Military Operations Areas” (MOAs) are clearly designated, which civilian aircraft are generally supposed to avoid, Sheaffer points out.

Most of the recent Pentagon comments about “unidentified objects” mention “range incursions,” Sheaffer adds,  i.e. unknown objects that seem to be entering one of these MOAs.

“So it seems that the military is worried about unidentified objects that might be intruding into their sandbox. If unidentified objects turn up elsewhere, the military doesn’t care,” Sheaffer says. “The ‘Tic Tac’ and ‘Gimble’ videos appear to show distant jets, which are probably well outside the MOA, quite far away. The military is investigating out of an abundance of caution, and a sensitivity to criticism,” he concludes.

Temper expectations

Sarah Scoles is author of the newly published and engaging book, They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers (Pegasus Books).

“First, I’d say that the establishment of a task force to investigate and understand UAP makes sense and could, if done systematically and scientifically and transparently, provide data useful in interpreting pilots’ sightings,” Scoles told Inside Outer Space. And it also makes sense, she says, that the Department of Defense — whose job it is to, of course, protect the U.S. from threats — is undertaking this endeavor.

“However, I think those expecting big, exotic conclusions from the task force would do well to temper their expectations. If you look at what the official announcement actually says, it’s not quite as extraordinary as it might seem at first glance,” Scoles points out.

Boundary-crossing objects

Last week’s DoD release, Scoles adds, uses language similar to that of other, previous statements about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. A September 2019 statement from Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare defining “UAP” reads, “The ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges.”

Scoles adds that “UAP” technically could include aircraft or objects that are simply unauthorized, as well as aircraft or objects that cannot be immediately identified. “That means that, if a pilot sees something they cannot explain, but someone else explains it a few hours later, it could still fall under the definition of UAP.”

The task force press release uses very similar wording to talk about DoD interest.

“It very specifically states that the DoD is concerned with boundary-crossing by objects that are–right when an observer sees them—unidentified,” says Scoles. “It says nothing so specific about objects that remain forever unidentified and mysterious. It certainly says nothing nor implies anything about alien aircraft.”

But, like all things UFO, Scoles concludes, “vague and somewhat weaselly wording leaves enough room for people to interpret this latest development very differently.”

Video: The Pentagon has declassified three previously leaked top secret U.S. Navy videos that show “unexplained aerial phenomena.”

To view a UAP, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUrTsrhVce4

 

 

New research shows that exhaust from lunar landers can rapidly spread around the Moon and potentially contaminate scientifically vital ices at the lunar poles.

Native ices sequestered in the Moon’s poleward craters — ices that may date back several billion years — will need to be carefully considered during increased efforts to return humans to the Moon.

Study results have been led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Origin of water

Parvathy Prem, a researcher at APL and the lead author on the study, explains that there are few places where researchers can find traces of the origin of water in the inner solar system.

Reading that record requires measuring the composition of those ices as well as their various isotopes to deduce where they likely came from and how they may have gotten there.

Frozen-out exhaust gases from robotic or human exploration that collect on those ices, Prem adds, could confound those measurements, even if the lander touches down hundreds of miles away.

Global impact

“The interesting thing about Parvathy’s work is that it shows very well that the effect, while small and temporary, is global,” said Dana Hurley, a planetary scientist at APL and coauthor on the study, in an APL statement.

Computer simulations of water vapor emitted by a 2,650-pound (1,200-kilogram) lander — about a quarter of the dry mass of the Apollo lunar module — touching down near the Moon’s south pole showed exhaust takes only a few hours to disperse around the entire Moon. From 30% to 40% of the vapor persisted in the lunar atmosphere and surface two months later, and roughly 20% would ultimately freeze out near the poles a few months after that.

 

If the Moon landing spacecraft is heavier, or lands closer to the poles, its influence on the lunar surface and atmosphere may be more significant.

Fate of exhaust gases

Follow-up work should include measuring the amount of exhaust that’s around the Moon during and after future landings, Prem said, which would help narrow in on an answer to how much these exhaust gases “stick” to the surface. “But I would also suggest that modeling and monitoring the fate of exhaust gases should be a routine part of lunar mission development and planning.”

“Whether we intend to or not, we’re going to do this experiment of bringing exhaust gases with us,” Prem said.

It’s now a matter of deciding how we deal with them.

The paper — The Evolution of a Spacecraft‐Generated Lunar Exosphere – is available here at:

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JE006464

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now drawing closure on Sol 2852 tasks.

Recent images of the “Mary Anning” drill hole, have sparked the Mars science team’s interest for both scientific and operational reasons, reports Mariah Baker, Planetary Geologist at the Center for Earth & Planetary Studies in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Images have revealed that wind is steadily eroding the fine material that originally surrounded the drill hole, providing observational evidence that the robot has again entered the windy season in Gale crater.

“As exciting as this is for those of us who study wind and have been patiently awaiting the return of the windy season,” Baker adds, “it is also important for the operations team. When we determine that wind is blowing material around on the surface, certain steps need to be taken to ensure safe and successful data collection.”

Dump pile

Timely assessment of wind activity is especially valuable when Mars researchers are trying to study fine material that is susceptible to being blown away, “both because wind-induced movement can impact our measurements but also because we don’t want any material blowing onto our instruments when we put them in close proximity to the surface,” Baker points out.

As a major component of a new plan is creating and analyzing a dump pile of fine drilled material, the Mars scientists had to carefully consider the wind conditions and adjust the plan accordingly.

“But a little wind wasn’t going to deter us,” Baker adds. “The team pushed on, scheduling almost two hours’ worth of science observations aimed at studying features both near and far. Within the immediate workspace, efforts will focus on the drill hole and the dump pile that will be created on the first sol of the plan.”

Wind-induced accumulation

The drill hole will be targeted with the Chemistry and Camera’s (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument and imaged with Mastcam in order to confirm that the laser hit the intended target.

This Mastcam image will also be added to the set of drill hole images already acquired, allowing the science team to continue monitoring wind activity at the robot’s current locale.

Similarly, a single Mastcam image of the rover deck (which is acquired regularly by the team) will be used to track wind-induced accumulation of sand on the deck.

Distant targets

The dump pile will be studied with Mastcam multispectral images, as well as with the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), but the closest-approach MAHLI images will be taken with the cover on in order to keep the camera safe from wind-blown material, Baker notes.

A ChemCam depth profile observation and Mastcam documentation image will also be acquired on target “Ayton,” which is located on the same bedrock slab as the drill hole and dump pile.

Two distant targets also captured the team’s attention: a light-toned area of the Vera Rubin Ridge will be analyzed with a Mastcam multispectral observation and a long-distance ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI), and Mount Sharp’s sulfate unit will be targeted with a second long-distance ChemCam RMI.

Quickly-changing conditions

Three rover Navcam observations aimed at assessing dust and cloud activity (a dust devil movie, a line-of-sight image, and a suprahorizon cloud movie) were also included in this large science block. Two additional environmental observations, a Mastcam tau image and a Navcam zenith movie, were also planned for later in the day when lighting conditions were more optimal.

“Although uncontrollable factors such as wind can pose an additional challenge for rover operations,” Baker concludes, “it’s nothing we can’t handle. Doing science on another planet often requires adapting to quickly-changing conditions, and the rover team is very accustomed to working around whatever is thrown – or blown – at us.”

Overnight measurement

Meanwhile, Vivian Sun, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory also reports that, over this weekend, Curiosity will focus on wrapping up the sequence of drill-related activities at the Mary Anning target while the team considers if they want to drill a second location here.

“On sol 2853, APXS will make a long overnight observation of the drill tailings, giving us a detailed look at the chemical composition of this rock,” Sun explains. “The next day on sol 2854, CheMin will have its turn at a long overnight measurement to determine the mineralogy of Mary Anning.”

History of the rocks

On sol 2853, APXS will make a long overnight observation of the drill tailings, giving us a detailed look at the chemical composition of this rock.

The next day on sol 2854, the rover’s Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (CheMin) will have its turn at a long overnight measurement to determine the mineralogy of Mary Anning.

“ChemCam will also make a passive observation of the sample dump pile,” Sun says, “adding to our rich collection of remote sensing observations characterizing: the pre-drilled surface, the drill hole and drill tailings, and now the dump pile. The extensive documentation that we do in all drill campaigns, involving both arm and mast instruments to study the drill hole and surrounding environment, goes a long way in helping scientists understand the history of these rocks and how they formed.”

 

 

A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) release today notes that on August 4, 2020, Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist approved the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force (UAPTF). 

The Department of the Navy, under the cognizance of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, will lead the UAPTF. 

Nature and origins

“The Department of Defense established the UAPTF to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs.  The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security,” explains the DoD statement.

DOD has stated previously, the statement continues, “the safety of our personnel and the security of our operations are of paramount concern. The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report. This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.”

 

That troubled “Mole” heat probe on NASA’s InSight Mars mission is presently fully covered with Martian sand. The plan now calls for the Mole to be pushed a little deeper into the ground with the continued help of the spacecraft’s robotic scoop.

The save the Mole script calls for not pressing the Mole with the robotic arm’s blade, but with the shovel at an angle of 20 to 30 degrees with respect to the surface.

Reports Tilman Spohn, the Mole leader at the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin:

“However, because we can only operate once a week – mostly for cost reasons – this will take another while. Our first operation, bringing the Mole still a few centimeters deeper in has begun and should be finished in about a month time.”

 

 

Balancing force

Following that month there will be a test of whether the Mole is moving on its own.

“Should that test not provide the required result we will move to the final activities of filling the Mole hole completely and press on the sand in the filled hole. That operation should definitely provide the necessary balancing force but may take another 2-3 months,” Spohn adds. “Having the mole deeper in will still be of advantage should we need to go to filling the hole entirely.”

“I think, at the latest after filling the pit,” Spohn explains, “we should be able to counter the recoil with sufficient force and the Mole will hopefully ‘dig’ deeper into the Martian soil on its own.”

Recent measurement

As a supporting indication, Spohn notes that a recent measurement of the thermal conductance from the Mole to the regolith shows increased values over earlier measurements.

“This suggests that both the thermal and mechanical contact have improved,” Spohn concludes. “So we’re feeling optimistic!”

Designed to burrow in as much as 16 feet (5 meters) underground to gauge the heat escaping from the Red Planet’s interior, the Mole has only been able to partially bury itself since it started hammering…way back in February 2018.

InSight landed on November 26, 2018, softly touching down within the smooth plains of Elysium Planitia. The goal of the mission is to study the interior of Mars and take the planet’s vital signs, its pulse, and temperature.

If a crew is heading off to Mars, who wears the pants in this family of explorers?

It might be everyone given new research on a Mobile Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) Gravity Suit for Long-Duration Spaceflight.

The suit is the result of NASA-sponsored work led by Neeki Ashari and Alan Hargens, both with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego, California.

The research has recently been published in the journal, Frontiers in Physiology.

Reduced bone density, muscle force

On Earth, gravity is responsible for supplying resistance in our everyday life. But then there’s spaceflight-associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome, previously known as Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure. It is a major risk associated with long-duration spaceflight.

Due to the lack of gravity in space travel, a headward shift of blood and other body fluids is caused. As a result, astronauts experience a mild, but constant elevation of intracranial pressure (ICP) unlike alterations of ICP with posture on Earth.

Also, long-term microgravity exposure is responsible for the reduction of mechanical loads, which reduce bone density, and muscle force generation.

Furthermore, an astronaut’s movement between modules, aerobic activity, and extra-vehicular activity components contribute to musculoskeletal injuries. This becomes a major concern as astronauts return from space to weight-bearing environments, such as Earth or even potentially Mars.

Wanted: effective techniques

In order to minimize musculoskeletal loss and injuries, it is essential to develop effective techniques that reproduce gravitational forces for microgravity conditions, Ashari and Hargens report.

The novel gravity suit serves as a countermeasure that may maintain cardiovascular, visual, and musculoskeletal health without sacrificing crew time. Astronauts will be able to float freely in microgravity while adhering to everyday tasks. The LBNP counteracts head-ward fluid shifts and generates ground-reaction forces.

Civilian space travelers

Generally, LBNP devices come in the form of a horizontal chamber. But a standard LBNP chamber is extremely heavy and bulky, excluded it from any in-flight missions to the International Space Station or beyond Earth orbit.

“Once space travel becomes commercialized, this device may ensure the health of future civilian space travelers. It is important to develop effective devices, like the mobile gravity suit, that simulate the very conditions our bodies on Earth depend on. This innovation may be pivotal for the journey to Mars,” the research team explains.

For commercial, high volume use, Ashari and Hargens note there would be five different sizes (XS, SM, M, L, and XL)!

To read the full research paper – “The Mobile Lower Body Negative Pressure Gravity Suit for Long-Duration Spaceflight” – go to:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2020.00977/full

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) has announced that the United States Department of the Air Force – Boeing X-37B team has been named as the recipient of the 2019 Robert J. Collier Trophy.

The Collier Trophy is awarded annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year.

The space plane has logged more than 2,865 days in orbit across five Earth-orbiting missions.

Current mission

Launched on an Atlas-V booster, an Earth-circling X-37B spaceplane is now carrying out the program’s sixth mission. The craft, also designated Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6), was lofted on May 17, 2020.

“The X-37B team win…exemplifies the kind of lean, agile and innovative technological development our nation needs to secure its interests,” said U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations, Gen. John “Jay” Raymond. “The ability to test new systems in space and return them to Earth is unique to the X-37B and enables the U.S. to more efficiently and effectively develop spacepower to maintain superiority in the space domain.”

Autonomous, reusable

NAA Chairman Jim Albaugh stated in an NAA press statement: “The X-37B team should be commended for their accomplishments over the last decade and more importantly for what they accomplished in 2019.”

As the world’s only autonomous, reusable spaceplane, Albaugh added, “it continues to contribute to our understanding of both space and air flight.”

Record setting 

Here’s a roster of the milestone-setting missions as told to Inside Outer Space by Major Will Russell, U.S. Space Force spokesperson.

OTV-1 launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on December 3, 2010, spending over 224 days on orbit.

OTV-2 launched on March 5, 2011 and landed on June 16, 2012, spending over 468 days on orbit.

OTV-3 launched on December 11, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014, spending over 674 days on-orbit.

OTV-4 launched on May 20, 2015 and landed on May 7, 2015, spending nearly 718 days on-orbit.

OTV-5 launched on September 7, 2017 and landed on October 27, 2019, spending nearly 780 days on-orbit.

The first four missions launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida thanks to an an Atlas-V booster. The fifth mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher.