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Zhang Tong

China launched a reusable experimental spacecraft on Friday on a mission to test the technology and conduct an in-orbit service.
State news agency Xinhua said the mission would “provide technical support for the peaceful use of space”.
The spacecraft lifted off on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Inner Mongolia in the country’s north.
It is not known how long the unnamed spacecraft will stay in orbit or where it will return to Earth.


China launched a similar reusable spacecraft in 2020 but that mission did not include in-orbit services – a series of operations by astronauts or machines to prolong the life of a spacecraft or improve its capacity.
The services can involve capturing a target for refuelling and repair or guiding a dangerous satellite on re-entry or to a graveyard orbit.
According to Professor Cai Yaxing with the National University of Defence Technology, satellites have a high economic value and long working life but are difficult to maintain.
“Even with more reliable designs, there are still a large number of satellites that fail to work or have a shortened life due to various reasons after launch,” Cai wrote in a paper in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Aerospace Control and Application in June.
Cai said that in many cases, such as solar panel deployment failures, only small in-orbit fixes were required to “save the satellite and obtain significant economic benefits”.
With the help of AI, an in-orbit service spacecraft could plan routes and change orbit parameters by itself, forming a “service sequence” with up to 10 target satellites in high orbit, Cai’s team suggested.
Chinese space authorities have not offered any details about the spacecraft’s engine or design but there is speculation that engineers had to improve the rocket engine to meet the reuse requirement.
Given the Long March 2F rocket’s payload capacity of 8 tonnes to low-Earth orbit, some observers say the spacecraft may be similar to the X-37B space plane built by Boeing.
While the spacecraft lifted off on a rocket, it might return to the ground with the help of second ignition or paragliding.


Spacefaring powers are in a race to develop reusable spacecraft, with the best known examples being SpaceX’s Dragon, Nasa’s Orion MPCV, and Russia’s Orel.
But reusable vehicles are not always economical. From 1981, the US developed six space shuttles in 30 years at a total cost of nearly US$200 billion, or eight times the original budget.
Such shuttle programmes also involve huge amounts of labour and resources to maintain and test the vehicles for each mission.
China’s reusable spacecraft is much lighter than the 80 tonne space shuttle, which could help cut costs.
According to one estimate by the China Academy of Space Technology last year, a Chinese reusable spacecraft could cost 1.5 billion yuan (US$222 million), or 50 per cent more than a disposable model.
In 2017, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation launched the Tengyun project to develop reusable space transport with hypersonic technology.
The aim is to build a space plane that can travel at least five times the speed of sound and take 10 passengers to near-Earth orbit by 2030.


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Science

Lift-off for China’s mystery reusable spacecraft on service mission

China plans to develop reusable space transport with hypersonic technology. Photo: Xinhua

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The Long March 5B rocket took off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan on April 29. Photo: China Daily via Reuters

Chinese astronauts enter space station on six-month Shenzhou 14 mission

The crewed spaceship Shenzhou 14, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, is launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China on June 5, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

The Shenzhou 14 launch was successful, the China Manned Space Agency reported 20 minutes after take-off. Photo: CCTV

From left: Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Chen Dong and Liu Yang wave before a send-off ceremony for the Shenzhou 14 crewed space mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China on Sunday. Photo Xinhua

Chinese space centre finds jamming device weeks before launch of latest space station mission in first reported incident of its kind

The Shenzhou 12 probe at the base ahead of its launch last year. Photo: AFP

China launches Shenzhou 13 astronauts on their Tiangong space station mission

The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province. Photo: Xinhua

China's Shenzhou 13 spacecraft is expected to blast-off within hours, taking its three-person crew including the country's second woman astronaut  to spend the next six months assembling theÊTiangong space station. Photo: Xinhua

Earlier CMSA pictures showed an escape launch system at the top of the rocket's payload compartment, to eject the spacecraft away from the rocket in case of emergency. Photo: Xinhua

News

China


Unnamed space vehicle heads into orbit but it’s not known how long it will be up there
Craft will carry out technical support for ‘peaceful use of space’



Unnamed space vehicle heads into orbit but it’s not known how long it will be up there.


Lift-off for China’s mystery reusable spacecraft on service mission

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Unnamed space vehicle heads into orbit but it’s not known how long it will be up there Craft will carry out technical support for ‘peaceful use of space’

Unnamed space vehicle heads into orbit but it’s not known how long it will be up there

Craft will carry out technical support for ‘peaceful use of space’