Author Topic: Report of Chinese space plane  (Read 5523 times)

Offline Phillip Clark

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Report of Chinese space plane
« on: 08/31/2017 05:30 pm »
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Offline Nomadd

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #1 on: 08/31/2017 05:38 pm »
Give me a minute to cash in my IRA so I can invest everything.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #2 on: 09/01/2017 06:00 am »
Looks interesting, but how do you abort if something goes wrong during launch?
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline john smith 19

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #3 on: 09/01/2017 07:36 am »
This story has been posted via Facebook.

https://futurism.com/china-plans-worlds-largest-spaceplane-for-2020-launch/
Dates from 2016, which was on the FB page and rather more visibly on the New Scientist page it quotes
The clue is it still talks about XCOR Lynx. XCOR no longer exists.

Has anyone heard anything since their presentation?

4 years to produces 2 different designs of single stage spaceplane.

Seriously?
MCT ITS BFR SS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFSC engined CFRP SS structure A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of Earth & Mars atmospheric flight.First flight to Mars by end of 2022 TBC. T&C apply. Trust nothing. Run your own #s "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" R. Simberg."Competitve" means cheaper ¬cheap SCramjet proposed 1956. First +ve thrust 2004. US R&D spend to date > $10Bn. #deployed designs. Zero.

Offline Phillip Clark

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #4 on: 09/01/2017 08:09 am »
I thought I had seen the story before but I decided to post the link here without any comment about whether it would reach flight status.
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane - WJ.

Offline SmallKing

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #5 on: 10/31/2017 12:12 pm »
CASC is still aiming for the debuting of this spaceplane in 2020. The Spaceplane can be relaunched everyday with an expendable second stage. It must be a Chinese version of Boeing XS1 ;D ;)
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5MjQ0Njk4MA==&mid=2650489584&idx=4&sn=da0bfad16e1297ed872af0cd7b142e19&chksm=bea9cd9b89de448d28b54c6168204eaf49fbba061c0f99a26ec41bd0116f8f91bbe782bfe8ff&mpshare=1&scene=23&srcid=1031yYHVVyOZ7X3cf4rfpBlJ#rd
Some are bound for happiness, some are bound to glory, some are bound to live with less, who can tell your story?

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #6 on: 11/01/2017 01:40 pm »
CASC is still aiming for the debuting of this spaceplane in 2020. The Spaceplane can be relaunched everyday with an expendable second stage. It must be a Chinese version of Boeing XS1 ;D ;)
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5MjQ0Njk4MA==&mid=2650489584&idx=4&sn=da0bfad16e1297ed872af0cd7b142e19&chksm=bea9cd9b89de448d28b54c6168204eaf49fbba061c0f99a26ec41bd0116f8f91bbe782bfe8ff&mpshare=1&scene=23&srcid=1031yYHVVyOZ7X3cf4rfpBlJ#rd

I wonder if the 2020 date does not necessarily reflect that vehicle can reach orbit at the first go - while the Chinese certainly did explore the hypersonic regime for quite some time already, I'm not sure that they can build something like the XS-1 just yet (never mind XS-1 has yet to fly either!).  :-\
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Offline mainmind

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #7 on: 11/02/2017 08:14 pm »
Arstechnica is also reporting about a Chinese spaceplane debut in 2020, citing Xinhua news agency.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/chinas-secretive-spaceplane-may-launch-in-2020/
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-10/31/c_136718107.htm

However, Ars claims this vehicle would take off horizontally and include ramjet propulsion for a portion of atmospheric flight before switching to rockets:

Quote
Should Chinese scientists and engineers deliver on their promises, some of the technology promised by the new spaceplane will be downright futuristic. Based on various reports, the spacecraft would take off from a runway and then, higher in the atmosphere, shift to ramjet propulsion before finally using rocket motors to exit Earth's atmosphere and move into orbit around the planet.

Yet there's no mention of ramjet technology in any of the referenced articles, except for a comment. No engineering drawings, nor test article pictures, either. Vaporware, I suppose.

Offline Kryten

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #8 on: 11/02/2017 09:19 pm »
That Ars article conflates this CASC project with CASIC concepts for combined-cycle spaceplanes.
« Last Edit: 11/02/2017 09:19 pm by Kryten »

Offline Vahe231991

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #9 on: 06/18/2023 04:16 pm »
CASC is still aiming for the debuting of this spaceplane in 2020. The Spaceplane can be relaunched everyday with an expendable second stage. It must be a Chinese version of Boeing XS1 ;D ;)
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5MjQ0Njk4MA==&mid=2650489584&idx=4&sn=da0bfad16e1297ed872af0cd7b142e19&chksm=bea9cd9b89de448d28b54c6168204eaf49fbba061c0f99a26ec41bd0116f8f91bbe782bfe8ff&mpshare=1&scene=23&srcid=1031yYHVVyOZ7X3cf4rfpBlJ#rd

I wonder if the 2020 date does not necessarily reflect that vehicle can reach orbit at the first go - while the Chinese certainly did explore the hypersonic regime for quite some time already, I'm not sure that they can build something like the XS-1 just yet (never mind XS-1 has yet to fly either!).  :-\
The CSSHQ built by CASC carried out its first orbital flight in September 2020. According to anonymous sources cited by the South China Morning Post, the CSSHQ is apparently an evolutionary development of the Shenlong spaceplane that carried out drop tests in 2007 and a suborbital flight in January 2011. In this way, since the X-37A originally designed to be launched from the Space Shuttle's payload bay was instead completed for drop tests from WhiteKnightOne aircraft in 2006, the Shenlong is best regarded as both the Chinese counterpart to the X-37A and the ancestor of the CSSHQ, just as the X-37B is a purely military version of the X-37A. 

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #10 on: 06/24/2023 02:37 am »
Thanks Vahe231991. I didn't know about Shenlong. Any idea of what vehicle was used to launch this in 2011?
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Vahe231991

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Re: Report of Chinese space plane
« Reply #11 on: 06/24/2023 04:58 pm »
Thanks Vahe231991. I didn't know about Shenlong. Any idea of what vehicle was used to launch this in 2011?
The Xi'an H-6 (Chinese copy of the Tupolev Tu-16 bomber) was used as the launch platform for the 2011 suborbital flight of the Shenlong:
https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/featurereusable-space-race-china-shenlong-usaf-x37-boeing/

Tags: shelong csshq x-37 h-6 shenlong 
 

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