In at least two articles about the X-37B, I've read about it changing orbit. But isn't that an energetically expensive operation? In a previous article (http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0824/Secret-Air-Force-...) the change seemed to be one of altitude/elevation (sorry if I'm using the wrong orbital mechanics terms ), rather than a plane change. But isn't that still relatively expensive, even with a Hohmann transfer or something? I can't imagine the X-37B can do very many orbit changes - can anyone provide more information on the physics behind this?
Trivia: this was the first spot googling "energy cost change orbital plane". I almost didn't click the link "Standard Orbit, Mr Sulu!" but was very glad I did. Bing had Wikipedia as the first spot, not nearly as engaging.
In at least two articles about the X-37B, I've read about it changing orbit. But isn't that an energetically expensive operation? In a previous article (http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0824/Secret-Air-Force-...) the change seemed to be one of altitude/elevation (sorry if I'm using the wrong orbital mechanics terms ), rather than a plane change. But isn't that still relatively expensive, even with a Hohmann transfer or something? I can't imagine the X-37B can do very many orbit changes - can anyone provide more information on the physics behind this?