Chinese space vehicle continues its secret mission around the Earth

The Chinese reusable space vehicle, launched on August 4 aboard a Long March 2F launch vehicle, is still in orbit. Although it passed over its supposed Lop Nur landing site in Xinjiang, the Chinese vehicle remained in orbit. Compared to its first flight, in December 2020, which lasted two short days in orbit, the vehicle is therefore doing much better.

A more ambitious mission than during the first flight

The United States Space Force, which monitors everything that spins around the earth released the orbital parameters of the vehicle. It circulates in an orbit weakly eclipticwith a perigee of 346 kilometers and an altitude ofapogee 353 kilometers, and inclined at 50 degrees. This orbit is therefore slightly more eccentric than during the first flight of the vehicle which had circulated in an orbit of 331 km x 347 km.

During its first mission, the vehicle had dropped a small test satellite emitting signals radio in S band. This time, the American space force which monitors it from the ground, and presumably from its spy satellites, spotted seven objects in orbit with the spaceplane. While some are debris from the launcher’s second stage, others are probably one or two small operational satellites. According to experts, it could be inspection satellites intended to follow the space vehicle.

Unsurprisingly, China remains silent on the rationale for this program and the ongoing mission. It is assumed that it foreshadows an operational vehicle for access to space, which can be implemented quickly, is inexpensive and capable of transporting payloads, recovering end-of-life satellites, and even transporting taikonauts.

If you are interested in this subject, we recommend that you read Furious Dragons, Chinese Space Planes, book by Philippe Coué, French specialist in the Chinese space program, published by L’Editionsharmattan.

China has launched a mysterious reusable space vehicle

Article of Remy Decourt published on 08/14/2022

In a context of strong tensions between China on the one hand and the United States and Taiwan on the other, a Chinese launcher has just put a classified reusable space vehicle into orbit. This mission was in preparation long before the events related to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island of Taiwan which took place two years after a similar equally secret mission.

Amid heightened tensions over Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China has launched a mysterious reusable space vehicle. A pitcher Long March 2F took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the desert of Gobi, on August 4, sending a ” reusable experimental spacecraft » successfully in low Earth orbit, Chinese state media reported Xinhua.

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese space authorities released no images of the launch and no details about the nature or features of the space vehicle. They also did not specify whether this is the second flight of the space vehicle which flew in September 2020 or a new vehicle, which would still be very surprising. The vehicle launched on Thursday is expected to operate in orbit for “some time” before returning to land on Chinese soil. Normally, it should remain in orbit longer than the spacecraft which flew two days in orbit in September 2020.

18^e U.S. Space Force Space Defense Squadron tracked the spacecraft, which is in a 346 by 593 kilometer orbit, inclined at 50 degrees.

Although little is known about the spacecraft — and based on previous statements and activities — it could be an unmanned spaceplane that could be commissioned as soon as possible. the next years. It is assumed that this space vehicle is the Chinese answer to the US Air Force X-37B which, meanwhile, is currently performing its sixth mission with a total of more than 800 days in orbit!

China successfully tests mysterious flying spacecraft

Article by Rémy Decourt published on 09/10/2020

China, which has never hidden its reusable spaceplane ambitions, has launched a mysterious unmanned flying spacecraft for a mission orbital two days. This machine is obviously a precursor of an operational reusable space vehicle. But which one, because China has several confidential programs of this nature.

China has discreetly tested a reusable space drone similar to X-37B American. The machine was launched Friday, September 4, aboard a Long March 2F launcher. After a two-day orbital flight, monitored by the United States Space Surveillance Network, it returned to land on Earth. It landed on Sunday, as quietly as it was launched, at a secret air base near the Lop Nor nuclear test range.

Unsurprisingly, no official information has been released about the launch of the spacecraft used and its mission. A press release was limited to saying that this space vehicle must be used for ” test technologies related to reusability for peaceful use of space “. It should be noted that an unusual level of security surrounded this launch so that no photos or videos of the launch and the vehicle were published on the social networks.

Several Chinese spaceplane programs

We remember that in 2017 China declared its intention to test a reusable space vehicle in 2020 in order to have a machine with logistical and operational capabilities similar to the X-37B. The only reusable space vehicle in the world, the X-37B still arouses so much curiosity and concern due to the privacy that surrounds its missions. And the irritation of the Russians and the Chinese who suspect, rightly, the Americans of a use of the vehicle managed by the military not as scientific and peaceful as they want to say. This vehicle returned to space in May 2020 for a sixth mission.

As for this Chinese space vehicle, without any information on its main characteristics (shape, dimensions, engine, orbital capacities, etc.), we can only assume that it is a vehicle from a known space program. . It could therefore be the space version of the Shenlong orAotian space plane announced by CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) in November 2017. Finally, it is not excluded that this vehicle is a demonstrator of orbital flight and atmospheric re-entry, all the same quite advanced, prefiguring an operational space vehicle. To be continued then.