The space mini-shuttle of the USAF X-37B will carry out the NASA experiment when it is launched with its new secret mission on the coming Wednesday (May 20, 2015).
NASA's payload, called METIS - METIS (Exhibiting Materials and Technological Innovations in Space) will test how space affects the materials involved in the experiment. The METIS equipment is installed on board the X-37B robotic spacecraft, which will launch soon on Wednesday at 10:45 am (14:45 GMT) from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
“By exposing materials to space and returning samples to Earth, we get the necessary information about how materials are delayed in the environment in which they will work in the future,” said the main researcher of Metis Miria Finkenor, Marshall Marshall engineer at NASA.
“Spacecraft designers can use this information to select a material with suitable qualities for space technology,” Finkenor added.
METIS will use some of the same materials as those placed on the International Experimental Space Station (MISSE), which operated between 2001 and 2013, and when more than 4,000 samples were taken into space. The search for materials more space-friendly is one of the goals pursued by researchers. X-37B landed last time in October last 2014, after spending 674 days in orbit. He flew three space missions, carrying out top-secret activities. The US Air Force owns two X-37B spaceships built by a division of Boeing Phantom Works.
Vehicles now look like NASA orbiting spacecraft just launched, but much smaller — only 29 feet long and 9,5 feet tall (8, 8 by 2, 9 m), with a wingspan of 15 feet (4, 6 m) . In fact, two X-37Bs can fit inside the cargo compartment of the space shuttle.
The X-37B, launched on Wednesday, is called OTV-4 (abbreviated as orbital test transport-4). How long the mission of the X-37B will last, representatives of the US Air Force do not report.
