Project 08218
XX
USAF + ORBITAL TEST VEHICLE
01
MISSION

HOW DO WE BRING WIRELESS ENERGY TO AREAS WHERE THERE ISN’T ANY?

The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable spacecraft that’s logged more than eight years in orbit over the course of multiple missions. Its latest experiment involves using a solar-powered microwave laser, or maser, to bring wireless energy to ground level.

02
DEVELOPMENTS

A reusable spacecraft with many uses

  • The X-37B performs a lot of testing—everything from advanced guidance and navigation to state-of-the-art propulsion systems and autonomous orbital flight.
  • The spacecraft transforms solar power into radio frequency microwave energy while in orbit, then transmits it to the ground.
03
0
The spacecraft can also use its collected energy to help power a receptive spacecraft in the same orbit.
SOURCE:
TECHCRUNCH
04
CONCLUSION

More missions to come

One of the X-37B’s future missions will include the FalconSat-8, an Air Force Academy satellite that will be performing its own unspecified experiments once released into its own orbit, on the same path as the X-37B.