US military's mysterious X-37B space plane zooms toward orbital record

Re:US military's mysterious X-37B space plane zooms toward o... by smalley on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @08:31PM (#31914988)

I mean isn't the B in ICBM for ballistic reentry, that's probably about as fast a deorbit from the height of the space station as you would get?

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Re:US military's mysterious X-37B space plane zooms toward o... by dotancohen on Wednesday June 29, 2022 @02:14AM (#31917036)

Actually, intercontinental suborbital trajectories get even higher than the space station. The space station is only 400 km up.

Newer ICBMs are actually orbital, so they don't have to go so high and thus be visible over the horizon to radar. But they obviously deorbit after less than half an orbit. It also enables them to get to the target in much, much less time.

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Re:US military's mysterious X-37B space plane zooms toward o... by sandworm101 on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @08:51PM (#31915146)

A nuke warhead can certainly be made to survive reentry, but that isn't the same as safely bringing one back for maintenance.

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