A secret American space plane will test the quantum transport technology soon

X-37B, and The US spacecraft in the United States will lead to the flight again.

On Monday, space force Declare It will fly a small shuttle car in the eighth task of the program next month. The launch of the car is scheduled to take place on the Falcon 9, early from August 21 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

There are two types of X-37BS active in the space force fleet, both of which were built by Boeing. The first trip for the first time in April 2010. Since then, the unintended spacecraft has made long trips. The first achieved the longest and latest trip from 2020 to 2022 over 908 days. The second flew recently, as it fell at the Vandenberg space on March 7 after 434 days in orbit.

It is likely to be the first of these two cars, both of which are about 29 feet (9 meters), and the length of one of the satellite orbits of NASA is launched.

Some details about the next trip

Over the past decade and a half, the space force has been largely silent around the purpose of this space plane, flying classified loads and providing limited information only about the purpose of each flight.

However, on this trip, OTV-8, the army provided more details about its intentions. The car will fly with a service unit expanding its experiment, allowing the space plane to host the beneficial load of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Innovation Unit.

The task objectives include “Laser Technology Technologies with a high -frequency range between tapes.

“The OTV-8 is an important step in the ability of the American space force to take advantage of the commercial space networks as part of the spreading, varied and needed space structures.” “When doing this, it will enhance data transfer speeds, reliability, and the ability to adapt and transfer data in satellite communication structure.”

Mobility in a world without GPS

The space plane will also introduce a new transport technology that relies on the electromagnetic wave overlap. The statement describes this space news as “a higher -performance self -perfume sensor that has been tested in space.”

Boeing It was already tested Quantum self -insufficiency unit, which detects rotation and acceleration using atomic overlap, on traditional aircraft. Now, an advanced version of technology is transferred to space to show its ability to feasibility. The goal of space test in space is to show location, navigation and timing in an environment in which GPS services are not available.

“The bottom line: The test of this technology will be useful for navigation in the disputed environments where GPS may decompose or reject.” He said in a social media post Monday, description of the trip.

Quantum self -deficiency sensors can also be used near the moon, as there is no comparable GPS capacity, or to explore the solar system.

It is worth noting that the small X-37B is due to the launch of a medium crew missile with this new task. During which The latest trip in MarchThe spacecraft was launched on the heavy Falcon missile for the first time. This allowed X-37B to fly beyond the low-Earth orbit and reach the Elli-Earth orbit.

This story was originally appeared on Art Technica.