Air Force plane latest information

With the launch Thursday of the X-37B spacecraft aboard an Atlas V rocket, the U.S. Air Force is taking a page from NASA's space shuttle program.

Looking somewhat like a traditional shuttle but at roughly one-quarter the size, the unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle took off for its maiden space voyage from Cape Canaveral in Florida and reached a low earth orbit late in the day. The X-37B is intended to serve as a platform for experiments and to offer insights on transporting satellite sensors and other equipment to and from space.

"If these technologies on the vehicle prove to be as good as we estimate, it will make our access to space more responsive, perhaps cheaper, and push us in the vector toward being able to react to warfighter needs more quickly," said Gary Payton, the Air Force deputy undersecretary for space programs, in a statement on the Air Force Web site.

Does that cryptic reference to "warfighter needs" signal the dawn of a new era of space weaponry? That probably remains some distance off in the future. The Pentagon is still in the very early days, for instance, of sorting out how to use directed-energy gear such as its lone Airborne Laser prototype. And certainly there are plenty of non-weaponized resources for the military in orbit, such as GPS and reconnaissance satellites, that a space plane could service.

As part of this initial mission, the Air Force will evaluate the X-37B's guidance, navigation, thermal protection, and unmanned operations in orbit, re-entry, and landing. It will function in space like other satellites, with operators on Earth monitoring its travels. Eventually, the Air Force will tell the space plane to head home. "Upon being given the command to return to Earth, the X-37B will automatically descend through the atmosphere and land on the designated runway. There is no one on the ground with a joystick flying it," said Lt. Col. Troy Giese, the X-37B systems program director, in a statement.

Though the 11,000-pound vehicle--about 29 feet long, with a wingspan of just under 15 feet--is designed to stay in orbit for 270 days, the exact duration of its first flight hasn't been revealed. Upon completing its first mission, the Boeing-built X-37B is due to touch down at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The resemblance to the space shuttle isn't surprising. The X-37, in fact, was originally a NASA program, with roots in the space agency's lifting-body research, that ran from 1999 to 2004. That effort was intended to help in the design and development of a new Orbital Space Plane that would serve as a transport and rescue vehicle for crews at the International Space Station.

With NASA's fleet of space shuttles due to be retired later this year, the Air Force has been searching for a new class of vehicles to take over the role of reusable space plane. But the X-37B has a ways to go before it's fully fledged.

"There is much to learn in the first few flights on the technologies used on this vehicle, how quickly it can be readied for a re-flight, and on the operational utility," David Hamilton, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, said in a statement. "We have started discussions with Air Force Space Command [officials] to plan for the possibility for transition to an operational capability, but the system first must prove its utility and cost effectiveness during the test program."

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on the runway.

(Credit: Boeing)

Lance Whitney wears a few different technology hats--journalist, Web developer, and software trainer. He's a contributing editor for Microsoft TechNet Magazine and writes for other computer publications and Web sites. You can follow Lance on Twitter at @lancewhit. Lance is a member of

NASA: Astronauts, robot has been complete first spacewalk

Computerworld - Two NASA astronauts early today worked hand-in-hand with a robotic arm during a six hour-plus spacewalk to attach a 1,700 pound ammonia tank to the International Space Station.

Space shuttle Discovery Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson worked in space from 1:31 a.m. EDT today to 7:58 a.m. in what was the mission's first spacewalk.

NASA noted this morning that today's spacewalk was the 234th conducted by U.S. astronauts, and the 141st spacewalk in support of the space station.

The replacement ammonia tank was brought to the space station aboard Discovery, which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center early Monday morning.

The astronauts this morning focused on lifting the tank out of the NASA shuttle's cargo bay. During the spacewalk, the space station's main robotic arm, Canadarm II, move the tank into position so it could be temporarily attached to the outside of the station.

The tank will be moved into its permanent position on the space station and attached there during the mission's second and third spacewalks on Sunday and Tuesday, according to the space agency.

During the spacewalk, Mastracchio and Anderson also retrieved an experiment that had been attached to the outside of the station's Japanese Kibo Laboratory, and removed a failed gyroscope that is part of the station's navigation system. The pair attached a replacement gyroscope.

The robotic arms onboard the space shuttles and the space station have long played key roles in various NASA projects.

There are three robotic arms on the space station - the Canadarm II, a newer device dubbed Dextre and a smaller robotic arm that's attached to the Japanese module.

The robots are regularly used to inspect the shuttle's heat shield for damage during liftoff. The devices are also used to move cargo out of the shuttle and attach it to the space station. Astronauts have even used the robotic arms to be tansported from one end of the space station to the other.

Canadarm II is expected to be used throughout Discovery's 13-day mission, which will continue into next week.

Lighting top Tips for light users

• Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) use 75% less energy than the typical
incandescent light bulbs used in useavilble area or your home. By switching to
CFLs at a cost of about
$2 per bulb, not only will the CFL bulbs last 10 times longer but they will also
offer you a potential savings of $100 per year on your energy bill.

• Plan your lighting. Not every room needs the same amount of general light. Plan within a room to provide general background lighting and supplementary task lighting. A good lighting plan can reduce lighting costs and still provide all the light you need.

• Use natural lighting in cold weather to let in warm sunlight and keep curtains closed during the summer to keep the house cool. Open curtains and shades during the day instead of using lighting. Consider skylights and solar tubes during remodeling or new construction design.

• Control outdoor lighting. To assure only dusk-to-dawn operation of your outdoor lights, control your fixtures with a photocell or a timer.
• Keep bulbs and fixtures clean. Dirt and dust reduce light output and efficiency. For safety reasons, don't clean bulbs and fixtures when they're hot or plugged in.

• If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchiers. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60 to 80 percent less energy, can produce more light and do not get as hot as the halogen torchieres. Halogen torchieres are a fire risk because of the high temperature of the halogen bulb.
• During the holidays, choose LED lighting. Set your lights on times so that they are turned off in the daytime.


• Turn off lights in any room not being used, even if your absence will only be momentary. For the outdoors, turn on lights only when needed. CFLs use 75 percent less energy than typical light bulbs.

• Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps. Eight such lamps burning year-round use as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average-size home during an entire winter.

• When choosing a new lamp, buy three-way lamps. They make it easy to keep lighting levels low when intense light is not necessary, and that saves electricity. Use the high switch only for reading or other activities that require brighter light.

• During the holidays, choose LED lighting. Set your lights on times so that they are turned off in the daytime.