(CNN) – A Chinese “experimental reusable spacecraft” believed to be the country’s secret space plane has landed back on Earth after more than eight months in orbit, the latest development in a largely covert race between the United States and China to perfect the technology.
The Chinese ship was launched into orbit last December. -two weeks before the final launch of the US military’s Boeing X-37B uncrewed spaceplane – on the third known orbital mission by a Chinese spacecraft of this type.
Some 268 days later, the craft returned to an unnamed landing site, according to a brief Sept. 6 announcement from state news agency Xinhua, which declared its test mission a “complete success.”
China’s development of the vehicle, about which very little is known publicly, comes after a recent years of struggle to catch up with the US, long the world’s preeminent space power, for dominance in orbit and beyond.
Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about China’s space plane.
The term “space plane” often conjures up NASA’s space shuttle, which flew 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, carrying astronauts into orbit and helping to build the International Space Station. It may also call to mind the Soviet Union’s ill-fated Buran space shuttle, which successfully completed one uncrewed flight in 1988 before being discontinued.
However, the newer aircraft currently being tested in orbit by the US and China are believed to be smaller than the shuttle and unmanned. The US X-37B is operated by the military, while China has not clarified whether the programme, which is presumed to be linked to its recently landed spacecraft, is civilian or military in nature.
Space planes are typically reusable craft similar to both an airplane and a ship, as they can fly in Earth’s atmosphere and in space. Both the Chinese spacecraft that recently returned to Earth and the U.S. X-37B, which has flown seven missions since its debut in 2010, are launched into outer space on rockets but land like airplanes on runways, experts say.
Spaceplanes are valued for their potential to carry out a range of missions in orbit and help countries respond quickly to developments in space, while advancing reusable spacecraft technology that could be used for more regular human travel in the future.
“It’s no surprise that the Chinese are very interested in our space plane and we are very interested in theirs,” General Chance Saltzman, the chief of operations for the U.S. Space Force, told reporters at a conference in December.
“It’s a capability – the ability to put something into orbit, do some things, bring it home and look at the results is powerful.”
What do we know about China’s space plane program?
Not too much.
China has never said what specific technologies the spacecraft has tested, nor released any photographs of it, since it began operating in orbit in 2020.
A video shared on the social media channel of state-backed contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced the spacecraft’s Sept. 6 landing and showed a banner instead of images. The text read: “Too advanced to show.”
Even the name of the craft that landed on Earth has not been confirmed by the Chinese government, although observers suspect it is the “Shenlong” space plane, which has been in development for two decades.
Other space plane projects under development in recent years in China have been publicly and officially described as civilian projects, while Shenlong’s official purpose remains unconfirmed, experts say.
It is also not known whether this is the same vehicle from the same series that completed two previous missions: the first in 2020 lasted two days and the second, starting in 2022, 273. Analysts believe that all of them ended with landings at the secret Lop Nur military facility in Xinjiang, in the far northwest of the country.
An official announcement following its launch on December 14 stated that the spacecraft would “carry out reusable technology verification and space science experiments as planned, providing technical support for the peaceful use of space.”
Space observers can, however, follow — using open-source data, images and position measurements — what the vehicle has been doing in space, including tracking the launch of what they say is an alleged “subsatellite” in late May and its apparent efforts to maneuver around the object. These are exercises similar to those carried out in previous test missions.
“This ability to maneuver close to another object could be used for inspection of space assets, or potentially clearing debris in orbit. But it could also be used for nefarious purposes, such as intercepting signals or physically damaging other craft,” said Juliana Suess, a space security researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based defense think tank.
The development of China’s space plane comes at a time when more countries are paying attention to the growing connections between security on Earth and in space, and competing for so-called counter-space technologies with the potential to disrupt or even destroy adversaries’ assets in space.
China has been vocal in recent announcements about the peaceful purposes of the spacecraft and its other efforts in space, though analysts say it is among the world powers developing anti-space capabilities.
The state media announcement of the spacecraft’s landing said it would “pave the way for more convenient and affordable return methods for peaceful use of space in the future.”
Analysts say there is no evidence the Chinese space plane is being designed to act as a counterspace weapon, but that information and capabilities gained from its missions could have dual-use applications.
“Anything China learns about the operation of its space plane, regardless of its primary purpose, will benefit its counterspace efforts,” said Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“In addition to maturing space technologies, it allows China to mature its muscle memory for operating in space. It is a concern how China could apply those learnings to counterspace weapons,” he said.
How does it compare to the American X-37B space plane?
It is difficult to compare the Chinese space plane with the American X-37B, due to the high degree of secrecy surrounding both programs.
The X-37B has been in operation for many years longer than the Chinese space plane and has remained in orbit for significantly longer, a record set during its sixth mission of a 908-day journey before returning to Earth in November 2022.
The U.S. Space Force, which oversees the X-37B, describes it as a reusable, uncrewed spacecraft that “strengthens America’s future in space by conducting technology experiments that accelerate the development of next-generation capabilities.”
Its latest mission includes tests operating in new regions of orbit, experimenting with space domain awareness technologies to monitor objects in space, and investigating the effects of radiation on NASA materials, including plant seeds, the force said.
But observers have also raised questions about the space plane’s activities, including its own deployment of multiple small satellites.
The level of secrecy surrounding the deployment of these satellites “may indicate that they are part of a covert intelligence programme, but may also indicate the testing of offensive technologies or capabilities,” said the independent US foundation Secure World Foundation in a recent report, while pointing to “similar behaviour regarding secret deployments” of the Shenlong space plane.
Observers also note that China is likely using the US program as a benchmark for its own.
“The fact that they now have a reusable spacecraft on their own (and) the fact that it was in the air for so long and came back safely shows how far they’ve come,” said Brendan Mulvaney, director of the China Institute for Aerospace Studies, a U.S. Air Force think tank, noting China’s claim of mission success earlier this month.
“All of this means that they are devoting time, effort and investment to make it work. China is the undisputed second space power and aims to close the gap with the United States in the military, commercial and scientific fields, all at the same time,” he said.
