By 
May 12th, 2015
Credit: ULA
Workers are readying the Air Force X-37B space plane for its May 20 liftoff.
Known as the Air Force’s AFSPC-5 payload, the winged craft has been encapsulated inside a 5-meter diameter payload fairing. It was then mated to an Atlas V booster inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41.
Credit: ULA
As the fourth mission of the secretive X-37B program, there is insight as to a few experiments that are to be conducted during its mission.
Materials exposed to space
NASA’s Materials Exposure and Technology Innovation in Space (METIS) investigation will onboard the X-37B. This experiment involves exposing almost 100 different materials samples to the space environment.
METIS is building on data acquired during the Materials on International Space Station Experiment (MISSE), which flew more than 4,000 samples in space from 2001 to 2013.
Electric propulsion
Another payload onboard the space plane is a Hall thruster experiment.
It is a type of electric propulsion device that produces thrust by ionizing and accelerating a noble gas, usually xenon. While producing comparatively low thrust relative to conventional rocket engines, Hall thrusters provide significantly greater specific impulse, or fuel economy.
LightSail team members Alex Diaz (left) and Riki Munakata (right) prepare the spacecraft for a sail deployment test.
Credit: The Planetary Society
LightSail
Also part of the AFSPC-5 payload that’s hitchhiking its way into space is the Planetary Society’s LightSail.
This CubeSat is about the size of a loaf of bread.
According to the Planetary Society, once in space, LightSail’s solar arrays will swing open, revealing the inside of the spacecraft. Four tape measure-like metal booms slowly unwind from storage, unfolding four triangular, ultra-thin Mylar sails.
An informative Planetary Society LightSail video can be viewed at:
Posted in Space News
