The Pentagon is usually scant on any details about the X-37B, its top secret space plane that flies up to 500 miles above Earth. But the Department of Defense has now revealed that the unmanned craft is about to execute a'first-of-a-kind' manoeuvre to alter its orbit. It's thought the novel exercise will let it evade detection by hostile nations and perform secretive'low-passes' over Earth. The Boeing-built vehicle, roughly the size of a small bus and resembling a miniature space shuttle, has been launched seven times since 2010. Although the exact purpose of the ship is a guarded secret by the US Space Force, it's thought to carry spy equipment, satellites or even weaponry. X-37 is a reusable robotic spacecraft manufactured by Boeing for the US government.

'Robot dogs' are being tested by the US Space Force so they can carry out patrols of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The $150,000 (£123,000) four-legged bots can be equipped with a wide variety of optical and acoustic sensors, allowing them to serve as the'eyes and ears' around sensitive areas of the base. They are being used for patrols'to save significant man hours', according to a statement from the Department of Defense. Space Launch Delta 45 – the unit responsible for all space launch operations from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral – used at least two Vision 60 unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGVs), or'robot dogs', during the two-day test last month. Built by Ghost Robotics, the robots can be operated either autonomously or by a human controller.

The world's first satellite launching drone, developed by a US-based space startup, will will be able to carry a new payload into orbit every 180 minutes, the firm claims. Aevum says the massive 80ft long drone, named the Ravn X, is fully autonomous, 70 per cent reusable, and can take off and land on runways as short as a mile long. Working in partnership with the US Space Force, the firm says it is'completely reimagining access to space' by focusing on autonomy and better logistics. The drone can take off from any runway to reach high altitude where it deploys a second stage that takes a small payload the rest of the way to space. After it has launched the second stage rocket into low Earth orbit, the drone flies itself back to its home runway, lands and then parks up in its hanger.