China’s “Spaceplane” Lands
The reusable spacecraft launched by China on Friday has returned to Earth. China itself does not refer to it as a spaceplane, but experts on the Chinese space program characterize it as a spacecraft similar to the winged U.S. X-37B that resembles a small space shuttle.
Like the launch announcement on Friday, China’s official news outlet Xinhua provided little detail.
JIUQUAN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — China’s reusable experimental spacecraft on Sunday returned to the scheduled landing site after a two-day in-orbit operation.
The spacecraft was launched with a Long March-2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sept. 4.
The successful flight marked the country’s important breakthrough in reusable spacecraft research and is expected to offer convenient and low-cost round trip transport for the peaceful use of the space.
Where and precisely when it landed is among the information excluded from Xinhua’s story, but experts who track space objects using the two-line orbital elements published by U.S. Space Force at space-track.org (@SpaceTrackOrg) or their own observations, have concluded it probably was Taklamakan Desert just before 02:00 UTC today, September 6 (10:00 pm September 5 Eastern Daylight Time).
Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589), Marco Lambroek (@Marco_Lambroek), and Bob Christy (@Zarya_info) all reached similar conclusions.
Ground track of Chinese reusable spacecraft passes over airbase near Lop Nor nuclear test site at Sep 6 0155 UTC, consistent with probable landing time. pic.twitter.com/resjPEb6Qr
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) September 6, 2020
Here’s a zoom out showing the final 2 orbits; note the placemark for the airbase at the NE end of the Taklamakan desert pic.twitter.com/mPYqwQELXb
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) September 6, 2020
This is the potential landing site in the Taklamakan Desert: a triangular arrangement of 5 km long airstrips, one of it parallel to the orbital track of the spacecraft.
The orbital track passes 42.5 km to the NW of it around 1:54 UT.
Copernicus Sentinel images from 23 Aug 2020. pic.twitter.com/4Ftm2t5mK9— Dr Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek) September 6, 2020
China spaceplane has returned to Earthhttps://t.co/7sVqWFyMrr
Retro-fire monitored by Yuanwang 3 off southern Africa
— www.zarya.info (@Zarya_Info) September 6, 2020
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