China successfully tests its first reusable suborbital spacecraft

Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation China (CASC) announced the successful completion of flight testing of their first multipurpose suborbital descent vehicle developed by their engineers.

In a statement released by the agency, they confirmed that the engines of the rocket used in the flight tests were correctly ignited, allowing the rocket to successfully ascend vertically at the Jiuqian Space Center in Inner Mongolia (North).

Having made a suborbital flight according to predetermined norms, the device again descended to the surface, landing horizontally without problems at the Alaks-Yuki airport, located 800 kilometers from the launch base.

In this regard, no additional information was provided, such as altitude, flight duration or propulsion systems, or images or footage of the vehicle.

China at the forefront of space

The CASC described the test as “great progress in the development China in reusable space transportation technologies and represents the country’s first step towards achieving innovative and independent development in this field.

For the third time in two years China launched a secret reusable vehicle with a mysterious mission into low Earth orbit.

Earlier this August, CASC also announced the launch of a mysterious reusable “test spacecraft” into Earth orbit.

The first of these tests was carried out in September 2020, but no further data were received from it.

Song Zhongping, a space analyst, told the official Global Times that suborbital vehicles, which are used to send payloads about 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, can serve a variety of purposes, such as carrying satellites.

In recent years, the Chinese space program has managed to land the Chang’e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon – the first time it has succeeded – and to reach Mars for the first time, becoming the third country after the United States. States and the former Soviet Union – to the ground. (EFE)

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