What Is The U.S. Airforce's Secret Space Mission About?

These days, with the multitude of global surveillance systems watching the skies, it's pretty tough to keep secret the inaugural test launch of what many suspect to be a space weapon. Which is probably one reason why the U.S. Air Force not only issued a press release, but put up a web video of the April 22 launch of its X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a smaller, robotic version of the Space Shuttle that can stay in orbit for up to 270 days before returning to Earth for eventual reuse.

The launch was so public that it garnered extensive international media coverage, including a Tehran Times article, which accused the U.S. of possibly violating a 1967 international treaty that limits the militarization of space. The headline of a Yahoo News article even questioned whether the X-37B launch was a "precursor to war in orbit."

The X-37B's dimensions aren't that impressive: 11,000 pounds and 29 feet in length, with a 14 foot wingspan, according to a Space.com article. But those stats are less important than the spacecraft's ability to fly through orbital space at 5 miles per second, and maneuver at will.

The Air Force has sought to downplay speculation that the unmanned spacecraft might actually be some sort of new strategic paradigm-shifting orbital weapon. But officials' qualified denials, coupled with the military's curiously generic, non-detailed description of the X37-B as "a flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components and associated technology to be efficiently transported," hasn't helped.

Some have speculated, for example, that such a space plane would be an invaluable surveillance tool, because it could change its path and surprise enemies who've timed their activities to avoid spy satellites. Others think a fleet of space planes would enable the Pentagon to deploy Special Forces soldiers or Navy SEALs on the other side of the world within a few hours of a national security emergency.

Others envision space places such as the X-37B as platforms for unleashing attacks on adversaries from the high ground of orbital space. In one scenario, a space plane could drop the so called "Rods from God." These kinetic energy weapons would fall through the atmosphere and strike a target at tens of thousands of miles per hour.

All that speculation may be a bit premature. Lisa Grego, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program, writes on the All Things Nuclear that the X-37B might not be as useful for warfare as some envision.

Grego points out that the X-37B is being launched on a payload on an expendable rocket, rather than with its own engine and reusable boosters. Its small size limits the amount of fuel that it could carry, which would limit its maneuverability, and also would hinder it in carrying the "Rods from God" or other heavy weapons into orbit.

Additionally, she writes, "The OTV will also probably not be demonstrating a capability of providing rapid, unpredictable imaging of the earth on this launch. Launches from Cape Canaveral are restricted to orbits with relatively low inclinations, not the polar orbits reconnaissance satellites favor, and the OTV would not be able to move into a polar orbit once it's launched... Satellites can only observe the Earth at latitudes up to the inclination angle of their orbits."

So what, then, is the X-37B's real purpose? The military isn't saying. In a recent Popular Science article, the Air Force's chief scientist, Werner J.A. Dahm, was asked what he could reveal about the spacecraft. "Nothing very useful," he replied, before quickly changing the subject.