China launches mysterious reusable ‘test spacecraft’ to Earth orbit

Space.com

2 years ago

For the second time in two years, China has launched a classified reusable vehicle on a mystery mission to Earth orbit.

A Long March 2F rocket carrying a “test spacecraft” lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Thursday (Aug. 4; Aug. 5 Beijing time), China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

“The test spacecraft will be in orbit for a period of time before returning to the scheduled landing site in China, during which reusable and in-orbit service technology verification will be carried out as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space,” Xinhua wrote (opens in new tab) (in Chinese; translation by Google).

That’s about all we know; Xinhua’s update is just two paragraphs long and provides no further detail. But the mystery vehicle is thought to be a robotic space plane, perhaps one roughly the same size as the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B, based on the Long March 2F’s considerable payload capacity, SpaceNews reported (opens in new tab).

China also launched a reusable test spacecraft in September 2020, under a similar cloud of secrecy. That vehicle — which may or may not be the same one that lifted off on Thursday — stayed aloft for two days and released a small payload in orbit before coming down for a landing in China, SpaceNews noted.

For comparison, the X-37B space plane has been orbiting Earth for more than 800 days on its latest mystery mission, the sixth for the X-37B program. The Space Force is thought to have two of the 29-foot-long (8.8 meters), Boeing-built space planes in its fleet.