This novel and efficient series of maneuvers demonstrates the Space Force's commitment to achieving groundbreaking innovation as it conducts national security missions in space.'

The US Space Force's secret-but-not-really-secret spaceplane will carry out a novel maneuver called aerobraking to change its orbit. Instead of using thrusters, the robotic spacecraft will dip into the Earth's atmosphere to change its trajectory.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) will change its orbit by executing a series of novel maneuvers, called aerobraking.

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.

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,

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.