On September 6, 2020, China launched a mysterious spacecraft into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at a place named the Gobi. Although there is no information provided on what kind of technologies they have used to create them. It was expected to get landed on September 6 but was unexpectedly found to return right after 2 days. The mission was found to be associated with China’s decision to make a reusable aircraft and somehow it’s not been confirmed.
Space News reported that “a few months of low-key work related to the launch was a similar reusable space plane project that China said, back in 2017, that it wanted to launch in 2020.”
Xinhua reported that the launching of the spacecraft took place alongside the “Long March-2F Carrier Rocket“. He added that China did not mention the exact landing and launch time.
According to the report of Forbes, the landing was found near Taklamakan Dessert, which is situated in Northwest China. No reports show that it had been a reusable space place, even McDowell, an astronomer at Astrophysics focussed on the purpose that we can’t assume it to be an area place, he also mentioned that “Reusable” doesn’t necessarily mean “winged”.
According to Spacenews, many researchers have also found an unknown object within the space which may be launched by China. Reports claim that it had been released two orbits before, the experimental spacecraft was returned.
“As per my analysis, it had been ejected from China’s experimental spacecraft, about two revolutions before landing,” added by Marco Langroek.
China’s mission is additionally related to “The US. Air Force’s unmanned X-37B spaceplane. “The Air Force project has flown fourfold in space thus far, bringing secret payloads into space for months at a time.” With no concrete information about these two activities. China also stated that the mission is peaceful yet there’s not prove regarding pictures and tiny information about the spacecraft.
“The successful flight marked the country’s important breakthrough in reusable spacecraft research and is predicted to supply convenient and low-cost trip transport for the peaceful use of the space,” reported by Xinhua on September 9th, 2020.
The launch of the space vehicle is no longer a surprise as there were no official or prior announcement before the launch. But for a fact, China has been working on such technology for the past decade. 3 years before they said it would launch a space probe in 2020 that will fly like an aircraft and will be a reusable one.