The USAF gives up on using the primary engine to move the AEHF satellite to its GEO orbit. Instead they will use the small station keeping thrusters, which can tap into the fuel for the primary engine. This will preserve the full planned working life of the satellite but getting to the final GEO slot will take nearly a year: Faulty AEHF To Reach Orbital Slot Next Summer - Aviation Week

Next Big Future reports on about hypersonic vehicle plans in the military and about the involvement of ASTROX Corporation in these efforts:
/-- Astrox Hypersonic Vehicle Designs and the US Air Force Technology Priorities for 2010-2030
/-- US Air Force Plans 2010-2030 Hypersonic systems, UAVs and lasers

New USAF communications satellite suffers engine failure in move to GEO orbit: AEHF Thruster Failure Stalls Trip To Orbit - Aviation Week - Aug.27.10.

AEHF may end up as yet another super expensive satellite stuck in a worthless orbit that could easily be saved if someone had invested in a space tug.

Amateur spacecraft observers spot a change in the orbit of the X-37B spaceplane: Secret X-37B Space Plane Has Changed Orbit - SPACE.com - Aug.23.10.

See earlier item about observing the X-37B this week when it will be high overhead for many passes over parts of the US.

The X-37B will have "good passes" for viewing from North America this week: See the Secretive X-37B Space Plane in Orbit with Phone App - SPACE.com.

Check Heavens Above or other satellite observation services sites to find when passes will be visible at your location.

There may be a problem with the military's AEHF 1/USA 214 communications satellite recently launched on an Atlas V: Air Force reviewing concern with new communications satellite - The Flame Trench/Florida Today - Aug.20.10.

An Atlas V is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral at 7:07 a.m. EDT with a military communications satellite:
/-- Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now
/-- ULA Atlas V set to launch with AEHF GPS satellte - NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug.13.10

The SpaceNews Early Bird Newsletter this week includes this interesting item about a nanosat launcher system in development at Dynetics and supported by the Army: Nanomissile Being Designed To Launch the Smallest Satellites Affordably - SpaceNews.com.

Orion Propulsion was working on the propulsion system when they merged with Dynetics: Orion tests nitrous oxide/ethane engine - Space Transport News - Dec.22.09.

More here:
/-- Dynetics Completes Successful 60-Second Test on Multipurpose NanoMissile System Rocket Engine - Dynetics News - July.26.10
/-- SMDC/COLSA Multipurpose Nano Missile System (MNMS) - Propulsion Programs - Dynetics
/-- MNMS - Multipurpose NanoMissile Systtem - SMDC/Army (pdf)

Update: A reader points to this video:

Parabolic Arc points to this article discussing the military implications of the X-37B and X-51 projects: Spate of Hypersonic Vehicle Tests Fuels Global Strike Debate - National Defense - Aug.2010 issue.

Tough to hide from those amateur satellite observers these days: Secret X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Skywatchers - SPACE.com - May.22.10

Update: Surveillance Suspected as Spacecraft's Main Role - NYTimes.com.

Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation has created a fact sheet about the X-37B in which he rates the likelihood of possible missions for the vehicle: X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Fact Sheet - May.19.10 (pdf)

The following articles are mostly based on Weeden's analysis:
/-- Analysis: Air Force's shuttle-like space plane not a weapon - SciGuy/Houston Chronicle
/-- What is the Air Force's Secret X-37B Space Plane Doing in Orbit? - Universe Today
/-- Air Force's New X-37B Space Plane Likely an Orbital Spy - SPACE.com

Some speculation about the X-37 mission: Report: Secret Space Plane Likely an Orbiting Spy - Danger Room/Wired.com.

Jeff Foust points to this new report from the the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) : National Security and the Commercial Space Sector: Initial Analysis and Evaluation of Options for Improving Commercial Access to Space - A Report of the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group (pdf, 62 pages).

this DRAFT report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) examines the relationship between U.S. national security and the commercial space sector, with specific focus on the current state of the space launch industry and launch market. Building on a CSIS annotated briefing released in 2008, entitled Health of the U.S. Space Industrial Base and the Impact of Export Controls, this report describes the importance of the commercial space sector to U.S. national security, catalogues several principal concerns regarding commercial access to space, and provides a framework for analyzing options to improve access to commercial launch services. The report is a vehicle for further discussion of two key issues: the relationship between the commercial space sector and national security, and the ways in which U.S. policymakers might better manage the nexus between them.

Combine reusable boosters with the X-37B and the military will finally get somewhere with RLV development. Just too bad they are planning to take 20 years to get there: USAF Plans For Reusable Booster Development - Aviation Week
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More about the Minotaur IV/HTV-2 suborbital launch: New Minotaur rocket launches on suborbital flight - Spaceflight Now.

Update Apr.24.10: An update of the article says that while the rocket worked fine, contact was lost with the payload soon after it was released.
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Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) fights for funding: Uncertainty Looms for 3 year old ORS Office Amid Declining Budget Projections - SpaceNews.com

Congrats to the Air Force on its success in getting the third reusable winged space vehicle into orbit (if I'm not mistaken, the Buran is the only other such vehicle besides the Shuttle). Something they have been trying to do since the start of the Space Age.

Here are some great photos of the launch last night: Spaceflight Now | Atlas Launch Report | Air Force's X-37B spaceplane blasts off.

More articles about the launch and the X-37B mission:
/-- Atlas Launch Report | Atlas rocket delivers Air Force spaceplane to orbit - Spaceflight Now

/-- Air Force Launches Orbital Space Plane Experiment - SpaceNews.com

/-- Air force launches US military's first spaceplane - Flight Global

And here are some wackier items about the launch:
/-- Is the X-37B the start of war in space? - News.com.au

/-- US Launches Secret Robot Space Shuttle - Wonkette

Preparations are currently underway for the Atlas V launch with the X-37B/OTV tonight in a window that opens at 7:52 pm EDT: Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now.

The sequence of events from ignition to orbit are given in this timeline.

The webcast should start [at 7:32 pm EDT].

Update: Countdown at 2 minutes.

Update 8:14 pm: The X-37B has separated from the second stage and appears to have been placed successfully into orbit. There will be a news blackout from the Defense Dept about the status of the mission until the vehicle lands, the date of which is not publicized.

Update 10:03 pm: A video of the launch:

Don't see any site giving regular updates on the status of the Minotaur IV suborbital launch of the HTV-2 (Hypersonic Test Vehicle) from Vandenberg AFB. This article from yesterday says,

Crews now will shoot for blastoff between noon and 6 p.m. Thursday from Space Launch Complex-8 on South Base.

That's in Pacific Time. The Vandenberg homepage will presumably post an update at some point. See also www.spacearchive.info.

The X-37B/OTV launch seems still to be on track for tonight: Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now.

Updates from ULA are available via twitter.com/ulalaunch. "If the launch scrubs, a second attempt is set for April 23."

Live webcast of the launch will be provided here starting at 7:32 p.m. EDT.

Some photo sets:
/-- Atlas on the launch pad with X-37B - Spaceflight Now

/-- ulalaunch.com/site/PhotoGallery/Photo_gallery.shtml

Note that this Atlas is in the "501 vehicle configuration with a five-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage". See this ULAlaunch.com page for info on Atlas 5 configurations and nomenclature.

The X-37/OTV program sounds better and better. I was worried that the project might die if there was failure on this first test. However, they are in fact building a second vehicle for a launch next year. Also, it appears that Gary Payton, who spoke with reporters about the project, is quite interested in the vehicle's potential for reusability and fast turnaround.

"The most important demonstration is on the ground," Payton said. "Once we get the bird back, we'll see what it really takes to turn this bird around and get it ready to go fly again, to learn how to do payload changeout on the ground, to learn how much it really costs to do this turnaround on the ground with these new technologies on the X-37 itself."

The Air Force hopes turnaround times and operations expenses prove faster and less costly than traditional space platforms.

The lack of the ability to do incremental, expand-the-envelope type of testing still makes such a program highly vulnerable to cancellation due to early failures from minor, non-fundamental problems. I certainly hope the X-37 avoids such disasters and keeps reusable space vehicle work alive in the military.

/-- Air Force's miniature space shuttle reaches launch pad - Spaceflight Now

/-- Orbital Test Vehicle: Reusable Spacecraft Ops - Aviation Week

/-- X-37: Ready for Launch - The Daily Planet/Air & Space Mag.

The Atlas V with the X-37 rolled out to the pad at Complex 41 this morning in preparation for the launch scheduled for tomorrow evening:
/-- Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now

/-- Atlas V on pad for Thursday evening Air Force launch - The Flame Trench/Florida Today