Researchers plan for reusable aerospace plane

Chinese researchers are working to combine rocket and aircraft technologies on an aerospace plane that could one day take off and land at local airports, a space expert told the Global Times as top Chinese officials revealed China’s plans for reusable inner space vehicles at the two sessions in Beijing on Monday.

Project Tengyun could provide round-trip travel between Earth and space, according to Zhang Hongwen, president of the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology has started a space travel project that seeks to reduce the cost of space travel through developing reusable carriers and lowering the flight trajectory, the China News Service reported on Monday.

Different from SpaceX’s reusable rocket, the aerospace plane is expected to be able to take off from a normal airport and send the carrier to the expected trajectory, according to Zhang.

Falcon 9, a reusable rocket produced by private US space flight company SpaceX for the 50th time on midnight March 6, uses boosters that return to Earth and land on one of SpaceX’s drone ships in the middle of the ocean.

“The key issue to solve is to reach a high-enough accelerated speed from take-off from a normal airport, theoretically the joint work of an aviation engine and rocket engine,” Jiao Weixin, a space professor at Peking University told the Global Times on Monday.

Although both plane and rocket technologies have been mastered independently, Jiao said, the question is how to combine them cost-effectively.

Considering the high cost, once the research is done, the first applications should be made in the military field rather than popular space travel, according to Jiao.

“It is a huge technological difficulty for the project and we are still in the preliminary stage of research and development,” Zhang said.

Chinese scientists are researching a nuclear-powered engine that might be used in a space shuttle for Mars exploration, China News Service reported.

The maiden flight of China’s first heavy rocket might be expected to take place in 2030, and nuclear-powered engine might be expected in 2040.