Reusable Chinese Spacecraft Lands Successfully, State Media Reports

China said three years ago that it would launch a spacecraft in 2020 that can fly like an aircraft and would be reusable.

By Reuters | Updated: 7 September 2020 10:28 IST

Reusable Chinese Spacecraft Lands Successfully, State Media Reports

Photo Credit: Twitter/ @EsperDoD

Some commentators compared the Chinese spacecraft to US Air Force's X-37B (pictured)

Highlights

Chinese social media has been rife with speculation over the spacecraft
State media had yet to publish photographs or video footage of the launch
No details were given on the technologies that had been tested

An experimental reusable spacecraft launched into orbit two days ago by China has successfully returned to a designated site on Sunday, marking a breakthrough that could lead to cheaper round-trips to space, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The mission had been kept low-key, and state media had yet to publish photographs or video footage of both the launch and landing of the spacecraft. No details were given on the technologies that had been tested.

Chinese social media has been rife with speculation over the spacecraft, which some commentators compared to the US Air Force's X-37B, an autonomous spaceplane made by Boeing that can remain in orbit for long periods of time before flying back to Earth on its own.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Three years ago, China said it would launch a spacecraft in 2020 that can fly like an aircraft and would be reusable, increasing the frequency of launches and lowering mission costs.

It is not known if the experimental spacecraft launched by China was a fixed-wing craft like the US Space Shuttle. If it was similar to the X-37B, it would be about a fifth of the Space Shuttle in size.

The Chinese spacecraft was deployed into orbit on Friday by the Long March 2F, a family of rockets that have transported Shenzhou spacecraft into orbit on both crewed and uncrewed missions over the years.

A Chinese national independently travelled to space for the first time in 2003 onboard the Shenzhou.

Is Android One holding back Nokia smartphones in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.