China’s sub-orbital carrier makes 1st repeated-use flight

China’s reusable sub-orbital space carrier made its first successful repeated-use experiment flight on Friday, the developer China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) announced. This is a great step forward of China’s development in reusable space transportation technologies, the corporation said.

The vehicle, a lifting-body suborbital carrier, was reused and launched vertically in the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China’s Gansu Province after receiving inspection and maintenance, the China Central Television reported citing an announcement of the CASC.

It landed stably at an airport in Alxa Right Banner in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after finishing a flight in the suborbit as planned, according to the announcement.

Space analyst Song Zhongping said sub-orbital carriers, which are used for sending payloads to about 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, could serve a variety of purposes such as ferrying satellites.

The lifting-body and sub-orbital characteristics mean that the carrier has aerodynamic design and can conduct operation in sub-orbit. Such craft has more lifting power, Song explained.

Technologies required for reusable sub-orbital flights are very demanding, as the craft had experienced both the environment in space and that under the Earth’s atmospheric influence, experts said.

The latest successful repeated-use flight means that both materials and engine system of China’s domestic reusable sub-orbital vehicle can be reused, which is a great technical breakthrough and remarks a technical milestone, Song said.

One of the most noteworthy points of the flight is that the carrier landed in a normal airport, which is more practical and safer, just like US’ space plane. China’s mastery of such technologies will greatly boost the research into space planes, laying a solid foundation for developing one of our own space planes in the future, Song said.

Reusable sub-orbital vehicles are of huge commercial relevance in the future. They can be developed into carriers for space tourism, fast intercontinental personnel and cargo transport, said Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine.