Sounds like a lot of effort and expense for something that’ll quickly be spotted by even amateur enthusiasts somewhat quickly.

I think we're talking about the X-37, which is a secretive unmanned shuttle.

There is a lot of speculation about the possible uses and missions for the X-37. Amateur astronomers enjoy trying to locate it, but it keeps manoeuvring!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37#Speculation_regard...

yes that was it, now I feel several sorts of awkward as I specifically looked it up because I could not remember the designation and yet, still somewhere between the list of x-planes and the comment entry the X-37(reusable baby space shuttle thing) became the X-47(stealth unmanned aircraft). Thanks for the catch.

Why is there so much secrecy surrounding it? Is it not a publicly funded project?

> Why is there so much secrecy surrounding it? Is it not a publicly funded project?

It's a military project so it's not surprising theres a lot of secrecy around it. Even more so that it's likely related to some sort of intelligence or combat missions.