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Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft
The Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft (Chinese: 可重复使用试验航天器; pinyin: Kěchóngfùshǐyòng shìyàn hángtiānqì) is the first reusable spacecraft produced by China. It embarked upon its initial orbital mission on 4 September 2020. According to media reports, the spacecraft is launched into Earth orbit in a vertical configuration while enclosed within the payload fairings of a rocket like a traditional satellite, but it returns to Earth via autonomous runway landing. In the absence of any official descriptions of the spacecraft or photographic depictions thereof, some observers have speculated that the spacecraft may resemble the X-37B spaceplane of the United States in both form and function.
The state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported in 2017 that China planned to launch a reusable spacecraft in 2020 designed to "fly into the sky like an aircraft".
The spacecraft's first mission began on 4 September 2020 at 07:30 UTC when it was launched into low earth orbit via a Long March-2F/T3 carrier rocket; the launch occurred at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the Gobi Desert. According to the Xinhua News Agency, "(a)fter a period of in-orbit operation, the spacecraft will return to the scheduled landing site in China. It will test reusable technologies during its flight, providing technological support for the peaceful use of space".
For launching payloads like the spaceplane, the Long March 2F/G needs four cusps added to its fairing to accommodate the payload (as seen post-launch), which led to speculation that the spacecraft resembles the US' Boeing X37-B.
Unofficial reports indicate that the spacecraft is part of the Shenlong spaceplane, which is claimed to be similar to the Boeing X-37B.
On 6 September 2020, two days after the launch, the spacecraft successfully returned to the Earth. According to observers Marco Langbroek and Jonathan McDowell, the spacecraft's landing site was an airbase located at Lop Nur, China.
On 7 September 2020, commercial satellite reconnaissance company Planet Labs published a satellite photo of a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) runway at Lop Nur, taken shortly after the landing of the spaceplane. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics speculated that one of the dots visible on the image of the runway was the Chinese spaceplane.
On 8 September 2020, Spaceflight Now reported that US analysts had detected the launch at 7:30 GMT on the fourth of September and that the craft's orbital axes were 332 kilometres (206 mi) by 348 kilometres (216 mi), and inclined by 50.2 degrees with respect to the equator.
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Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft
The Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft (Chinese: 可重复使用试验航天器; pinyin: Kěchóngfùshǐyòng shìyàn hángtiānqì) is the first reusable spacecraft produced by China. It embarked upon its initial orbital mission on 4 September 2020. According to media reports, the spacecraft is launched into Earth orbit in a vertical configuration while enclosed within the payload fairings of a rocket like a traditional satellite, but it returns to Earth via autonomous runway landing. In the absence of any official descriptions of the spacecraft or photographic depictions thereof, some observers have speculated that the spacecraft may resemble the X-37B spaceplane of the United States in both form and function.
The state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported in 2017 that China planned to launch a reusable spacecraft in 2020 designed to "fly into the sky like an aircraft".
The spacecraft's first mission began on 4 September 2020 at 07:30 UTC when it was launched into low earth orbit via a Long March-2F/T3 carrier rocket; the launch occurred at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the Gobi Desert. According to the Xinhua News Agency, "(a)fter a period of in-orbit operation, the spacecraft will return to the scheduled landing site in China. It will test reusable technologies during its flight, providing technological support for the peaceful use of space".
For launching payloads like the spaceplane, the Long March 2F/G needs four cusps added to its fairing to accommodate the payload (as seen post-launch), which led to speculation that the spacecraft resembles the US' Boeing X37-B.
Unofficial reports indicate that the spacecraft is part of the Shenlong spaceplane, which is claimed to be similar to the Boeing X-37B.
On 6 September 2020, two days after the launch, the spacecraft successfully returned to the Earth. According to observers Marco Langbroek and Jonathan McDowell, the spacecraft's landing site was an airbase located at Lop Nur, China.
On 7 September 2020, commercial satellite reconnaissance company Planet Labs published a satellite photo of a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) runway at Lop Nur, taken shortly after the landing of the spaceplane. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics speculated that one of the dots visible on the image of the runway was the Chinese spaceplane.
On 8 September 2020, Spaceflight Now reported that US analysts had detected the launch at 7:30 GMT on the fourth of September and that the craft's orbital axes were 332 kilometres (206 mi) by 348 kilometres (216 mi), and inclined by 50.2 degrees with respect to the equator.