The United States Space Force has unexpectedly published a photo its top-secret X-37B space plane took while orbiting the Earth last year.
The image, which the military arm shared on X-formerly-Twitter last week, shows the side of its plane with a distant Earth looming in the background.
"An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in [highly elliptical orbit] in 2024," the Space Force wrote in the caption.
An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO in 2024.The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel. pic.twitter.com/ccisgl493P
— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) February 21, 2025
It's an extremely rare glimpse at the space plane, which has remained elusive. Even its primary purpose has been kept under tight wraps, with the Space Force only hinting at what its seventh mission, which kicked off in December 2023, was meant to accomplish.
The mission involved a number of vaguely-worded goals, including "operating the reusable spaceplane in new orbital regimes, experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies, and investigating the radiation effects on materials provided by NASA," according to a November 2023 statement.
An image released by the Space Force at the time shows the Boeing-built space plane being encapsulated inside SpaceX's Heavy Falcon rocket before launch.
In October, Space Force announced that the secretive craft would be executing a series of "aerobraking" maneuvers, which would alter its trajectory in orbit by passing through the Earth's upper atmosphere to generate drag.
According to the caption of the Space Force's latest image, the maneuver serves an important purpose, allowing the space plane to "safely change its orbit using minimal fuel."
As Space.com reports, the X-37B has previously tested beaming solar power from space and thermal protection systems.
During its previous test flight, which concluded at the Kennedy Space Center in November 2022, the space plane spent a record 908 days in the Earth's orbit.
It's not the only space plane currently being tested in space. Astronomers have closely been following a secretive Chinese spaceplane, dubbed Shenlong, which released six mysterious, signal-emitting objects in late 2023. The craft had also been found to be emitting strong signals itself while passing over North America.
Last year, China also showed off a separate reusable space shuttle that it intends to use to ferry cargo to and from its Tiangong space station.
Much like the Space Force's X-37B, details about Shenlong's purpose and ongoing missions remain extremely sparse.
More on the space plane: The Space Force's Top-Secret Spaceplane Is About to Do a Sick Stunt
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