Astronomers claim to have found US Air Force's 'top secret' space shuttle

Melbourne, May 24 (ANI): A group of amateur astronomers claim to have unravelled the mission of US Air Force X-37B secret space plane.

The X-37B took off from Florida in April amid speculation that it would play a key role in the militarisation of space, reports News.com.au.

However, avid skywatcher Ted Molczan claims that from his backyard in Toronto, he has found the orbit of X-37B and the space vehicle is unlikely to use weapons.

According to Molczan, the miniature plane is testing sensors for new spy satellites.

He told the New York Times the X-37B was following the behaviour of regular American imaging satellites by passing over the same region every four days.

That region, Molczan said, took in a belt from 40 degrees north latitude to 40 degrees south latitude and covered North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Molczan and his team members in Canada, the US and South Africa worked to corroborate the shuttle's path revealing that it orbited the Earth once every 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, US Air Force spokesman Gary E. Payton said: "The program supports technology risk reduction, experimentation and operational concept development," he said. (ANI)