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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0422/Pentagon-X-37-space-plane-to-launch-amid-secrecy... The 29-foot spacecraft resembles a mini space shuttle and will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida between about 7:50 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern time atop an Atlas V rocket. (Click here for the webcast.)
Other than the launch itself, which Air Force officials jokingly concede they couldn’t keep secret even if they tried, most of what the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle program is all about is classified
...Some details emerge
Broadly speaking, the program is expected to test the Air Force's ability to launch the spacecraft , keep it up for months at a time, return it to earth, and fly again. The length of its visit to space appears central to the mission.
The X-37 is able to fly for as long as 270 days powered, the Air Force hopes, by a combination of lithium ion batteries and a set of solar panels. Air Force officials will want to see how well the lithium ion batteries onboard stand up to the long deployment. The batteries are “recharged” by a set of solar panels inside the spacecraft that will emerge once the craft has deployed from the rocket that will carry it into space...