"Sleuthing Enthusiast Discovers US Military's X-37B Spaceplane"

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Source: Ars Technica
"Sleuthing Enthusiast Discovers US Military's X-37B Spaceplane"
Photo: Ars Technica
TL;DR Summary

A satellite tracking hobbyist near Helsinki, Finland, has reportedly located the US military's X-37B spaceplane in a highly elliptical orbit ranging between 201 and 24,133 miles in altitude, confirming speculation that it reached higher altitudes than previous flights. The X-37B, launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in December, is on its seventh mission and is carrying out a wide range of test and experimentation objectives, including new orbital regimes and space domain awareness technologies. The secretive nature of the X-37B has sparked speculation about its purpose, with some suggesting it could be part of a classified weapons platform, while others believe it is a testbed for new space technologies.

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