Secret mission ending soon

After spending more than a year orbiting our planet on a hush-hush mystery mission, the U.S. Air Forces X-37B space plane is due to return to Earth any day now. And what OTV-2 has been doing for so long up there remains a mystery, because the space planes mission and payloads are classied.
WHAT IS THE X-37B?
An unmanned space test vehicle belonging to the United States Air Force.
Air brake Propulsion Liquid-fuelled rocket engine: Payload bay:

IN MINUTES

News and events visually

HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN UP THERE?

OTV-2 has been aloft for 462 days as of June 8, 2012
OTV-1 launched in April 2010 and landed that December, staying in orbit for 225 days well under the spacecrafts supposed 270-day limit.

WHERE WILL IT LAND?

When the X-37B ight does end, it is designed to carry out an automatic guided-entry-andwheels-down runway landing at: 1 Vandenberg Air Force Base NEVADA 2 Backup: Edwards CALIFORNIA Air Force Base 1 2
Los Angeles If the incoming space plane strays o its auto-pilot trajectory as it zooms over the Pacic Ocean, the craft has a self-destruct mechanism.

Atlas V Booster
This system is what launched OTV-2 into space: OTV-2 Payload fairing Forward load reactor Centaur RL 10A Centaur Engine Centaur Conical Interstage Adapter Centaur Interstage Adapter Cylindrical Insterstage Adapter

For orbital manoeuvres

Unpressurized area similar in size to pickup truck bed; deployable solar panels provide power in orbit

Thermal protection:

Heat-resistant ceramic tiles shield craft from intense heat of re-entry

Guidance Onboard GPS:

Navigation and ight control; autonomous re-entry and landing sequence

Twin angled tail ns Hydrogen peroxide tank

Air brake

Thermal protection Heat-resistant ceramic tiles shield craft from intense heat of re-entry Hydrogen peroxide tank

WHERE HAS IT BEEN ORBITING?

The X-37B is traveling in a slightly elliptical orbit about 320 km up, swooping from 43 degrees north latitude to 43 degrees south making frequent passes over the Middle East, Africa, and a fair chunk of China.
The space plane's orbital parameters are classied, but amateur astronomers have been tracking OTV-2's movements since it blasted o .

Experiment bay

JP-8 Kerosene jet fuel tank

Avionics Manoeuvring thrusters

Atlas V Booster

TECH SPECS
Length Wingspan Launch weight Operating altitude 8.38 m 4.6 m 5 tonnes 200925 km Mach 25

WHAT HAS IT BEEN DOING?

The space plane's mission and payloads are classied, but theories are out there on what it has been doing: Air Force officials have said the chief task is testing out new technologies for future satellites May be observing the Middle East and Afghanistan with brand-new spy gear Could launch, repair or reposition U.S. satellites in low orbit Could sneak up and disable or steal enemy satellites Possibly spying on Chinas Tiangong-1 space station

SO WHAT NOW?
As for the future of the X-37B series, derivatives of the vehicle have been proposed as possibilities to y cargo and even crew to the International Space Station.

RD-180 Engine

Re-entry speed

Sources: Graphic News; NASA; Reuters

SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR, TWITTER @SBATS1; INFOGRAPHIC BY MEGAN DINNER/QMI AGENCY