A U.S. Air Force X-37B UOV (unmanned orbital vehicle) returned to earth on June 16th, after 469 days in space. This feat was made possible by the fact that the X-37B carried with it a large solar panel, which came out of the cargo pay, unfolded and produced enough power to keep the X-37B up there for even longer. The air force has not said what the X-37B was doing up there all this time. The air force has revealed that it is designing an X-37C, which would be twice the size of the X-37B and able to carry up to six passengers. Think of it as Space Shuttle Lite, but robotic and run by the military, not NASA. This has the Chinese worried, and they are not being quiet about their fears.
I never understood early complaints that the X-37B is too small to be militarily useful. One, it apparently is useful even as is. And two, if it works we can scale up.
The payload such a stealthy spacecraft can carry is no doubt useful. I find it interesting that it can carry 6 passengers. With weapons, that would be a small squad, no? Even if you assume to crew to fly the craft, you still have a fire team. I guess it depends on what "passenger" includes.
And with the ability to board manned space stations, wouldn't that be an interesting capability for an Air Force truly aiming high?
