BEIJING — China has successfully launched a reusable robotic spacecraft on Thursday for the third time since 2020 in a series of secret orbital test flights aimed at developing reusable technology to reduce the cost of space missions.
The unmanned spacecraft flew atop a Long March 2F rocket, the same rocket series China uses to transport astronauts into space, on Thursday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, state media said. It was launched in
The spacecraft will operate in orbit for a “certain period” before returning to a designated landing site in China. State media reported that reusable technology would be “validated” and space experiments carried out during the flight, but gave no other details.
of final launch The spacecraft was launched in August 2022 and returned to Earth after a 276-day orbit. Details such as what technology was tested or how high the plane flew were not disclosed. Images of the spacecraft have never been released to the public.
China’s plans for a reusable spacecraft (referred to by some as Shenlong, or “Shenron” in Chinese) coincide with a similar secret plan by the United States to fly an autonomous spacecraft known as the X-37B.
Thursday’s launch in China came hours after the launch countdown for the new rocket. X-37B SpaceX has canceled its mission for the third time this week due to weather and technical issues at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A new launch date for the X-37B has not yet been announced. The X-37B was scheduled to launch for its seventh mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that can carry secret robotic spaceplanes to much higher orbits than ever before.
The Pentagon has provided few details about the mission, which will be overseen by the U.S. Space Command under the military’s National Security Space Launch Program.
But Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman told reporters at an industry conference this week that he expects China to launch Shenron around the same time as the upcoming He said he expected further developments in the growing competition.
“It is no surprise that the Chinese are very interested in our spaceplanes. According to the US aerospace magazine Air & Space Force Magazine, we are very interested in theirs. ,” Saltzman said.
“These are two of the most-watched objects in orbit. It’s probably no coincidence that they’re trying to grab us at this timing and sequence.”
of Made by Boeing(Ban) The X-37B is about the size of a small bus and resembles a small space shuttle ship, and is designed to deploy a variety of payloads and conduct technology experiments on long orbital flights.
On its previous mission, the unmanned X-37B returned to Earth in November 2022 after more than 900 days in orbit.
China successfully launches reusable spacecraft for the first time September 2020 This happened after it had been in orbit for just two days.
The development of reusable spacecraft is considered important to ultimately achieving the goal of increasing the frequency of space flights and lowering the cost per mission.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
