What was the US military's secret space plane doing on its record-breaking mission?

A secret space plane operated by the United States Space Force has returned to Earth after spending a record amount of time in the air. We don't know what it was doing above our heads.

The X-37B space plane touched down at the Kennedy Space Station. Since the first flight in 2010, the vehicle has completed six missions. There are no details on its activities during the record-breaking trip, but officials claim to have conducted a number of scientific experiments above Earth.

The X-37B was originally designed by Boeing for NASA. It is an airplane-spacecraft hybrid that looks a lot like a mini space shuttle. In May 2020 it was launched from atop an Atlas V rocket. The space plane has been in the air for over a decade, covering over one billion miles. The previous record was set by the X-37B during an earlier mission.

There are a lot of things we know about the X-37B space plane.

The X-37B continues to push the boundaries of experimentation thanks to an elite government and industry team. The Department of the Air Force and the scientific community value the ability to conduct on-orbit experiments and bring them home safely. We were able to host more experiments because of the addition of the service module.

The most recent flight of the United States Space Force yielded only a few tidbits of information. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory was able to harvest light from the sun before sending it back to Earth as microwaves. The Effects of Space on Different Materials was an experiment that NASA provided.

Rivals are still speculating despite the fact that no other details of the experiments were revealed. The former head of Russia's space agency claimed in an interview that the craft could be used for espionage or for carrying weapons of mass destruction. Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and commentator, told the South China Morning Post that the craft's ability to change its flight path gave it the ability to spy on other satellites or on Earth-based targets.

The X-37B can also be loaded with weapons. It is possible that it can be fitted with robotic arms to capture other satellites.

Heather Wilson, a former Pentagon official, stated that the craft's ability to alter its orbit was due to the drag generated by its low Earth orbit.

Wilson said at the Aspen Security Forum that the adversaries don't know where it's going to come from. We know that makes them crazy. I'm very happy about that.

A secret space plane was launched from a Long March 5B rocket in August. Much like the X-37B, a lot of what it is doing is not known.