The secret military space plane to launch on Wednesday its fourth mission

On Wednesday, the military space plane that is shrouded in mystery in a recent (mainly) is preparing to launch into space on a secret mission.

US Air Force X-37B space plane has lived in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, his fourth space of the Atlas V rocket on May 20 because of the flies. Rocket 2:45 PM Eastern Time, 10:45 pm ET start at any time of start-up.

What are the military space plane in his mission despite the very short lid on hold, there are a few things we know about the vehicle, such as small shuttle.

X-37B - Two former Boeing B -37 lifted, have - houses, reusable space vehicle technologies to be used with the BBC experiment was designed to help. The program can check them in the field, scientists involved in the experiments was charged after a long space flight, said Air Force.

"We are pleased with our fourth X-37B mission," said Air Force Rapid opportunities Office Randy Walden, director of the announcement in April. "With the success of the first three missions carried out, we shift our focus from the car to the experimental equipment to test the opening of cash."

In his third mission ended in October 2014, at the time, the space plane 29 meters and 674 days in orbit before returning to Earth. It goes either to the cosmic X-37B is not clear how long that will take part in the mission.

Retirement NASA spacecraft, which looks like a small version - - X-37B flying in many experiments. However, there are some exceptions.

Testing an innovative thruster

X-37B space mission will also experiment with Hall thrusters. According to the Air Force, to create thrust - usually xenon - noble gas is ionized this type of electric drive. Hall thrusters produce thrust, however, it is less than a typical rocket engine when it comes to fuel economy, use, adding the Air Force.

Therefore, this type of propeller space vehicles which, in theory, but in their place are more than able to perform maneuvers. However, at this point I do not know what exactly X-37B.

"More efficient capacity in orbit propeller reduces cost less fuel to get there. There is a huge plus spacecraft operational flexibility, the survival and longevity increases," Major. General Thomas Masiello, Commander of the Air Force Research Lab, said in a statement.

"Space is so important to everything we do," said Masiello in a statement. It depends on the perception of space-based missile warning, weather and navigation information.

NASA, according to NASA scientists, 200 days in space over 100 different types of materials exposed to the atmosphere to allow the X-37B is unclassified experiment will fly on this plane.

From 2001 to 2013, a gap of more than 4,000 samples of materials science in the investigation of a certain experiment in the International Space Station.

Orion Deep Space capsule to the fact that one of the tests of materials that can be used for Windows is an easy choice, Miria Finckenor, X-37B NASA experiment, a co-investigator, said in an interview with Mashable. Orion is designed to run on future Windows machines as long as they can be useful for finding ways to reduce weight while keeping in mind the security, which includes aircraft on historical complex and has a large factor.

The experiment polymers, composites, and the place to see what will fly a variety of materials, including coatings. Mission managers are the types of experiments that will help them create a more effective mission to learn more about specific materials.