New Space Shuttle X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle

The first robotic space plane X-37B launched by United States Air Force.

X-37B space plane weighs about 11,000 pounds and is just over 29 feet in length. It stands slightly more than 9 1/2 feet in height and has a wingspan just over 14 feet across.

Mission
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV, is a non-operational system that will demonstrate a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force. The objectives of the OTV program include space experimentation, risk reduction and a concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.
Features
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is the newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft. Based on NASA’s X-37 design, the unmanned OTV is designed for vertical launch to low Earth orbit altitudes where it can perform long duration space technology experimentation and testing. Upon command from the ground, the OTV autonomously re-enters the atmosphere, descends and lands horizontally on a runway. The X-37B is the first vehicle since NASA’s Shuttle Orbiter with the ability to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis.
Technologies to be tested include advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high temperature structures and seals, conformal reusable insulation, and lightweight electromechanical flight systems. In addition, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will demonstrate autonomous orbital flight, reentry and landing.
Background
The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office is leading the Department of Defense’s Orbital Test Vehicle initiative, by direction of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and the Secretary of the Air Force. The Air Force OTV effort uses extensive contractor and government investments in the X-37 program by the Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to continue full-scale development and on-orbit testing of a long-duration, reusable space vehicle.
NASA’s original X-37 program began in l999 and ran until September 2004 when NASA transferred the program to DARPA. NASA envisioned building two vehicles, an Approach and Landing Test Vehicle, or ALTV, and an Orbital Vehicle. The ALTV validated flight dynamics and extended the flight envelope beyond the low speed/low altitude tests conducted by NASA from 1998 through 2001 on the X-40A, a sub-scale version of the X-37 developed by Air Force Research Labs. DARPA completed the ALTV portion of the X-37 program in September 2006 by successfully executing a series of captive carry and free flight tests. NASA’s X-37 Orbital Vehicle was never built: but its design was the starting point for the Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle program.
The Air Force plans to conduct the first orbital test flight of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle in April 2010 with a launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on an Atlas V expendable launch vehicle. Re-entry and recovery activities will be conducted at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. or Edwards AFB, Calif.
General Characteristics
Primary Mission: Testing reusable space vehicle
Prime Contractor: Boeing
Height: 9 feet, 6 inches (2.9 meters)
Length: 29 feet, 3 inches (8.9 meters)
Wingspan: 14 feet, 11 inches (4.5 meters)
Launch Weight: 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms)
Power: Gallium Arsenide Solar Cells with lithium-Ion batteries
Launch Vehicle: Lockheed-Martin Atlas V (501)

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Amazing And Beautiful picture

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World:s First Flying 5 Star Hotel

This is photos of world’s first flying hotel. It took five years of hard work to modify on a Soviet-made Mil V-12, of which there were only two prototypes ever made. into the “world’s largest helicopter. Super helicopter is now converted into both a world’s largest helicopter and a World’s first flying hotel. The Hotelicopter Company bought one of the prototypes from the Mikhail Leontyevich Mil helicopter plant situated in Panki-Tomilino, Russia in 2004.

It is an unbelievably great masterpiece appears to be similar to a double-decker bus. It is 135 feet long and 45 feet high with the ability to lift a maximum load of 105 thousand kilos and reaching a maximum speed of 255 km/hour (158 miles/hour). A 5-star hotel features 18 lavish appointed rooms. Each soundproofed room is equipped with a queen-sized bed, fine linens, a mini-bar, coffee machine, wireless internet access, and all the luxurious appointments. Room service is available one hour after liftoff as well as before landing.”

Ten Longest Bridges In World - Amazing

10. Seven Mile Bridge

 The Seven Mile Bridge, in the Florida Keys, runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Key Vaca (the location of the city if Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. Among the longest bridges in existence when it was built, it is one of the many bridges on US 1 in the Keys, where the road is called the Overseas Highway.

9. San Mateo-Hayward Bridge

  The San Mateo-Hayward Bridge (commonly called San Mateo Bridge) is a bridge crossing California's San Francisco Bay in the United states, linking the San Francisco Peninsula with the East Bay. More specifically, the bridge's western end is in Foster City, the most recent urban addition to the eastern edge of San mateo. The eastern end of the bridge is in Hayward. The bridge is owned by the state of California, and is maintained by Caltrans, the state highway agency.

 8. Confedration Bridge

 The Confederation Bridge (French: Pont de la Confederation) is a bridge spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Starit, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunkswick, Canada. It was commonly referred to as the "Fixed Link" by residents of Prince Edward Island prior to its official naming. Construction took place from all the fall of 1993 to the spring of 1997, costing $1.3 billion. The 12.9 kilometre (8 mile) long bridge opened on 31 May 1997.

7. Rio-Niteroi Bridge

  The Rio-Niteroi Bridge is a reinforced concrete structure that connects the cities of Rio de Janerio and Niteroi in Brazil. Construction began symbolically on August 23, 1968, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in their first and thus far only visit to Brazil. Actual work begun in January, 1969, and it opened on March 4, 1974. Its official name is "President Costa e Silva Bridge", in honor of the Brazilian president who ordered its construction. "Rio-Niteroi" started as a descriptive nickname that soon became better known than the official name. Today, hardly anyone referes to it by its oficial name.

6. Penang Bridge

  The Penang Bridge (jambatan Pulau Pinang in Malay) E 36 is a dual-carriageway toll bridge that connects Gelugor on the island of Penang and Seberang Prai on the mainland of Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula. The bridge is also linked to the Norht-South Expressway in Prai and Jelutong Expressway in Penang. It was officially opened to traffic on September 14, 1085. The total length of the bridge is 13..5 (8.4 miles), making it among the longest bridges in the world, the longest bridge in the country as well as a national landmark. PLUS Expressway Berhad is the concession holder which manages it.

5. Vasco da Gama Bridge

  The Vasco da Gama Bridge (Portuguese: Ponte Vasco da Gama, pron is a cable-stayed bridge flanked by viaducts and roads that spans the Tagus River near Lisbon, capital of Portual. It is the longest bridge in Europe (including viaducts), with a total length of 17.2 km (10.7 miles), including 0.829 km (0.5 miles) for the main bridge, 11.5 kms (7.1 miles) in viaducts, and 4.8 km (3.0 miles) in dedicated access roads. Its purpose is to alleviate the congeston on Lisbon's other bridge (25 de Abril Bridge), and to join previously unconnected motorways radiating from Lisbon.

 4. Chesapeake Bay Bridge

 The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the Bay Bridge) is a major dual-span bridge in the US State of Maryland; spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's Eastern and Western Shore regions. At 4.3 miles (7km) in length, the original span was the world's longest continous over-water steel structure when it opened in 1952. The bridge is officially named the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge after William Preston Lane, Jr. who, as governor of Maryland, implemented its construction.

3. King Fahd Causeway

  The King Fahd Causeway is multiple dike-bridge combination connecting Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and the island nation of Bahrain. A construction agreement signed on July 8, 1981 by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa of Bharain; construction continued until 1986, when the coombination of sevral bridges and dams were completed. The causeway officially opened for use on November 25, 1986.

2. Donghai Bridge

Donghai Bridge (literally "East Sea Grand Bridge") is the longest cross-sea bridge in the world and the longest bridge in Asia. It was completed on December 10, 2005. It has a total length of 32.5 kilometers (20.2 miles) and connects Shanghai and the offshore Yangshan deep-water port in China. Most of the bridge is a low-level viaduct. There are also cable-stayed sections to allow for the passage of large ships, largest with span of 420 m.

1. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

 

 The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, or the Causeway, consists of two parallel bridges that are the longest bridges in the world by total length. These parallel bridges cross Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana. The longer of the two bridges is 23.87 miles (38.42 km) long. The bridges are supported by over 9,000 concrete 8 miles (13 kms) south of the north shore. The southern terminus of the Causeway is in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The northern terminus is at Mandeville, Louisiana.

 

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