China today successfully launched a reusable test spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The launch was carried out by the Long March-2 F launch vehicle, the 14th mission of the rocket.
Update on September 6:
The test spacecraft is expected to remain in orbit for a period of time and return to its scheduled landing site in China after completing its mission.
It will verify the viability of the spacecraft's reusable technology, the report said.
In October 2017, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said it was working with agencies within China to develop a reusable vehicle, with the first flight planned for around 2020.
The ultimate goal is not only to reduce the cost of transporting a unit of payload to one-tenth the cost of existing disposable launch vehicles but also to dramatically shorten the launch preparation time and hopefully make it possible to make flights to and from the vehicle like an airplane.
Chen Hongbo, director of the research and development center at China Aerospace's First Research Institute, said at the time that China's reusable launch vehicle had the characteristics of both a spacecraft and an air vehicle.
Compared with traditional disposable rockets, China is building on its current rocket engines and improving them through technology to make them reusable, he said.
Reusable air vehicles currently in use can be divided into partially reusable and fully reusable.
China is promoting a "reusable" space program and plans to implement low-cost space development in a three-step approach.
Firstly, the rocket power part can be reused; secondly, on the basis of the former, a reusable spaceplane can be carried; and finally, a combined-powered vehicle, a vehicle that integrates turbine engines, ram engines, rocket engines, and other power sources.
This is an innovative step for China's space industry. It's no longer a secret that other countries around the world, such as the United States, have reusable spacecraft.
SpaceX already completed the first test of its Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle on June 3, 2017.
