After 276 days in orbit and shrouded in complete secrecy, A Mysterious space plane launched by China It returned to Earth last summer with satisfactory results.
This was reported by both state news agencies this week Xinhua The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) made a brief report on the investigations carried out during his stay. Related to reusable technologies It will “provide more convenient and cheaper round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future.”
Launched from the Gobi Desert on August 4 on a Chinese-made Long March 2F rocket, it entered an orbit measuring 346 by 593 kilometers at a 50-degree inclination, and later changed it to 597 by 608 kilometers. Special portal Space news. This is not the first flight of these characteristics: in September 2020, with similar secrecy, it spent four days in orbit before returning to Earth.
Before the device was put into orbit, the United States didn’t hesitate to monitor it, and in November a US Space Force spacecraft detected an object that they speculated had released. satellite or a service module.
The secret is that not a single image of the vehicle’s actual appearance has been released, even though its appearance may resemble the vehicle. Boeing X-37B American, a low-quality entertainment shared by the CNSA Watcher account on Twitter.
The latter, whose activities have been jealously guarded by the US, returned to Earth in November after nearly three years and, according to US officials, Scientific experiments Commissioned by NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. In this sense, the US denies having military or espionage objectives.
China’s move comes as part of increased investment and other milestones in its space program over the past decade.
