Boeing’s X-37B prepares for eighth orbital mission
July 28, 2025
Boeing’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is preparing for its eighth mission next month.
The launch of OTV-8 will take place from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and is scheduled to take place on or after August 21.
X-37B Mission 8 will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, designated USSF-36.
What will the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle do in space?
OTV-8 will fly with a service module, expanding capacity for experiments and collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Innovation Unit.
Boeing said OTV will host demonstrations of high-bandwidth inter-satellite laser communications technologies, as well as the highest performing quantum inertial sensor ever tested in space.
The latter aims to result in accurate unaided navigation in space by detecting rotation and acceleration of atoms without reliance on satellite networks like traditional GPS.
“With each successive flight, the X-37B has demonstrated adaptability and flexibility by hosting diverse experiments and pioneering new orbital regimes,” said Michelle Parker, vice president of Boeing Space Mission Systems.
“This mission continues that legacy by fielding cutting-edge technologies that advance our nation’s space capability and improve the resilience of future architectures.”
OTV-8 follows less than six months after the successful completion of OTV-7.
“OTV-8’s laser communications demonstration will mark an important step in the US Space Force’s ability to leverage commercial space networks as part of proliferated, diversified, and redundant space architectures,” said US Space Force Chief of Space Operations Chance Saltzman.
Boeing’s space programme
Since its inaugural launch in April 2010, Boeing’s spaceplane has spent more than 4,200 days in space.
OTV-7 deorbited and landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on March 7, 2025, having been launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket to a highly elliptical orbit.
During that mission, X-37B successfully completed a novel aerobraking manoeuvre, which involves the use of atmospheric drag over the course of multiple passes to change orbits while expending minimal fuel.
Commenting at the time, the X-37B programme director Blaine Stewart said: “Mission 7’s operation in a new orbital regime, its novel aerobraking maneuver, and its testing of space domain awareness experiments have written an exciting new chapter in the X-37B programme.
“Considered together, they mark a significant milestone in the ongoing development of the US Space Force’s dynamic mission capability.”
