After nine months in orbit, China’s mysterious space plane has touched down for the second time, making the nation one of the few entities to successfully launch and recover a reusable spacecraft.
“The total success of this experiment. marks a significant breakthrough in our country’s research on reusable spacecraft technology,” Xinhua, a Chinese state media agency, reported earlier this month.
However, the Chinese government has released very little additional information about the ship; details of its design, capabilities, and performance remain unclear.
Related: 10 facts about the secret X-37B space plane of the US Space Force.
Experts think that the chinese space plane is probably similar to the Boeing X-37B, a US space plane which debuted in 2010. kevin pollpetera research scientist at the Center for Naval Analysis, said nature.com that the disclosure of the X-37B raised concerns within the Chinese government about the military potential of the craft. This may have prompted the country’s space program, which is closely tied to its military, to start developing its own version, Pollpeter said.
As the X-37B space plane, the Chinese vessel appears to be unmanned and relatively small. She probably first flew in September 2020, doing a brief two-day stint in orbit before returning to earth. Her most recent mission began in August 2022, when she took off on a long march 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north China, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based in Washington, DC. The exact purpose of the mission remains unclear.
According to the CSIS report, the spacecraft launched an “object” into orbit sometime in October. The object apparently disappeared in January, only to suddenly reappear on satellite tracking radar in March. Experts believe this could indicate that the plane has some sort of satellite takedown capability, like a robotic arm.
“(The Chinese) have been working a lot with robotic arms in other contexts, like the Chinese space station.” jonathan mcdowellan astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Nature.
If that’s the case, then the plane’s main purpose could be to repair damaged satellites or remove orbital debris. However, this does not rule out military capabilities — either for the Chinese space plane or for the X-37B. However, until more details come out, the best we can do is speculate.
