Things are definitely looking up for SpaceX, as the company has recently enjoyed a series of achievements and accomplishments that are helping to prepare it for its planned 2030 Mars mission. SpaceX is currently busy with a number of other missions, however, the most popular of which being the private Moon mission.
But it looks like SpaceX is involved in a secret mission from the U.S. Air Force as well. This activity was revealed by Secretary Heather Wilson on Tuesday. "SpaceX will be sending the next Air Force payload up into space in August," she said during a webcast testimony to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.
This payload is the Air Force's highly secretive space drone, the X-37B. It'll be launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which first received certification from the Air Force to launch sensitive and costly payloads from the military back in 2015.
“We are excited about this new partnership on creating flexible and responsive launch options and are confident in SpaceX’s ability to provide safe and assured access to space for the X-37B program,” said Randy Walden, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.
Securing private and government contracts works well for SpaceX. It provides the company with the funding needed to continue their rocket research. This capacity to further test and develop their reusable rockets will also allow SpaceX to reduce the cost of space travel.
Aside from its NASA and Air Force contracts, SpaceX's logs list a number of private commissions, ranging from telco satellite launches to even contracts with Airbus and Bigelow Aerospace. Hopefully, this bountiful cooperation will yield widespread advancements in space exploration and travel.
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