China is developing a multipurpose space plane that will be launched for the first time in 2020

The power announced that the vehicle will be able to carry tyconauts and cargo into space, will be multi-purpose, and will be able to take off into space like an airplane

China's official news agency, Xinhua, Has announced Last week that the superpower is developing a space plane, which will be able to fly taikonauts (Chinese space pilots) and cargo into orbit around the earth.

According to the announcement, the space plane will be multi-purpose and will take off into space horizontally on a landing track. "Unlike traditional disposable spacecraft, the new spacecraft will take off into the sky like an airplane," said Chen Hongbo, a researcher at the China Space Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). If the construction of the vehicle goes ahead, it will be the first orbital space vehicle in history with the ability to take off into space from a flight path (there are sub-orbital space planes with this ability, such as Spaceship 1 of Virgin Galactic, and its successor Spaceship 2, but these do not go into orbit around the Earth).

in a separate news By the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper, Hongbo was quoted as saying: “The launch of our multi-purpose space vehicles will be held in 2020, after further tests and experiments are carried out. The launch vehicles are designed for multiple use up to 20 times, which will reduce transportation costs by up to 90 percent."

According to the news in People's Daily, the new space plane will have absolute multi-purpose capability. No orbital launch vehicle has yet managed to achieve such a capability - the space shuttles, for example, required a huge fuel tank attached to the shuttle, in addition to two side boosters that assisted it in the launch; SpaceX's Falcon 9 is also not completely multi-purpose, since only the first stage (and its main one) returns to Earth, while the upper rocket stage is not returned and burns up in the atmosphere (although Elon Musk has previously said at his will Also make the upper stage of Falcon 9 multi-purpose, andThe futuristic launcher that SpaceX intends to use to send people to Mars, BFR, will be completely multi-purpose as well).

The planned space plane, if developed, would also be the first manned spacecraft that China will develop entirely on its own, as the current spacecraft with which it launches tyconauts into space, Shenzhou, is based on the old Soviet/Russian spacecraft Soyuz.

In addition, if China manages to meet its schedule and begin launching the new aircraft in 2020, it will fit well into the superpower's additional space programs, which intends to complete construction of A large modular space station until the early 20s.

China has not disclosed many details about the space plane, and without them it is difficult to determine exactly where it is in the spacecraft's development stages, and whether the 2020 launch target is realistic. Despite the scant information about the vehicle, one thing is clear - China demonstrates once again that its intention to become a leading space power is completely serious.

The state declared, as mentioned, its intention to build a large space station in the early 20s, as well as on her desire to land a man on the moon in the mid-30s, but to understand its seriousness it is appropriate to look at the things it has already done: in the last two years the state a routine its second space station, Tiangong 2, as experimental models for the construction of a future and large space station, and launched the first Chinese automatic cargo spaceship to the station, Tianju, which enables refueling and the transfer of essential supplies. In addition, she put into service a new heavy launcher, Long March 5, which will allow it to launch the components of the future station as well as robotic space missions to the Moon and Mars (The launcher failed on his second flight in July of this year, and China is working on returning him to activity next year).

See more on the subject on the science website:

• China plans to develop a reusable manned spacecraft
• The launch of the Chinese Long March 5 missile failed
• Shenzhou 11 is China's longest mission to date, a learning step on the way to a permanent presence in space
• China has successfully launched the Tiangong 2 space station