The innovative use of aerobraking will allow the X-37B to efficiently and safely dispose of the service module, using minimal fuel thanks to decades of

A U.S. X-37B space plane is slated to test a new way of rapidly changing its orbit, part of the Space Force’s quest for fuel-sipping maneuverability. The spacecraft will experiment with aerobraking, which uses Earth’s atmosphere to slow down and switch orbits.

One of the US Space Force’s (sort of) secret space planes known as the X-37B is gearing up to shift its orbit in a big way. According to an official October 10 announcement from the USSF, the Boeing-built experimental aircraft has begun performing a series of maneuvers known as “aerobraking” that will see it change its altitude by conducting “a series of passes using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere.

After more than nine months in an unusual, highly elliptical orbit, the US military's X-37B spaceplane will soon begin dipping its wings into Earth's atmosphere to lower its altitude before eventually coming back to Earth for a runway landing,

Ten months into its latest and largely classified mission, the Space Force's X-37B spaceplane is embarking on a new set of maneuvers that could inform future space operations for the service. The Boeing-built spacecraft has functioned as a testbed for Pentagon and NASA technologies since 2010.

The U.S. Space Force, to which the two X-37Bs are now assigned, announced the planned orbital maneuvers as part of the current Orbital Test Vehicle 7 (OTV-7) mission earlier today. The X-37B that is now in space was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 28,