TAKING A LOOK BEHIND THE HEADLINES
TAKING A LOOK BEHIND THE HEADLINES
BYBY ROBERT BECKHUSEN ROBERT BECKHUSEN
XXXXXXXXX...
94 May 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE
OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
BY DAVID AXECHINA’S
SPACEPLANE
AMBITION
A
CHINESE COMPANY HAS claimed
it’s working on a reusable
spaceplane similar to the US Air
Force’s secretive X-37B. Unlike the
X-37B, which launches into orbit
atop a Falcon rocket, the Chinese
vehicle would blast o in mid- ight from under
the wing of a large ‘mothership’ aircraft.
It’s unclear how far along the Chinese
design is, when it might y for the rst time
and whether the Chinese government has
committed to acquiring the vehicle. Nor is it
clear exactly why Beijing would want an X-37B-
style spaceplane.
Some observers have speculated that the
X-37B could be a weapon-in-disguise that’s
capable of intercepting and tampering with
enemy satellites. If that were true, a Chinese
spaceplane might also represent a military
threat. But, in fact, the X-37B is almost certainly
a test vehicle whose main mission is hosting
small science experiments. Were it to become
a reality, Beijing’s own version would probably
undertake similar missions.The US Air Force insists the X-37B is strictly
a technology host for small experiments. The
ve-ton X-37B is ‘a reusable and more e ective
way to test technology in space and return it
for examination’, Richard McKinney, then the
deputy under-secretary of the air force for
space programs, said in 2011. The X-37B’s cost
is classi ed, but almost certainly totals billions
of dollars for development and operations
through 2018.
The US vehicle’s limitations back up the air
force’s assertions with regard to its purpose.
For military missions, the X-37B is actually
at a disadvantage compared to disposable
spacecraft. ‘Building this return capability
into the spaceplane adds tons of extra mass
compared to maneuvering spacecraft that are
not designed to return to Earth’, Laura Grego
and David Wright from the non-pro t Union
of Concerned Scientists explained in a blog
post. ‘That large mass penalty makes it more
di cult and expensive to get a spaceplane and
its payload into orbit and reduces the amount
of maneuvering that it can do with a given
amount of fuel.’
China’s own spaceplane, should it ever
become operational, would su er the same
disadvantages compared to conventional
satellites. Moreover, in choosing to launch the
spaceplane from a mothership aircraft, instead
of atop a rocket, China Aerospace and Industry
Corporation assumes the burden of also
developing a new, very large aircraft.
While a heavy bomber might be able to
launch a small spaceplane on some missions,
it’s worth noting that the leading user of
mothership aircraft in the United States —
billionaire Paul G. Allen’s Stratolaunch company
— is developing a brand-new, six-engine
aircraft for that purpose. The Stratolaunch
aircraft, which in March 2018 was still
undergoing ground testing, will ‘make access
to space more convenient, reliable and routine’,
the company promised.
Stratolaunch has been working on its rst
mothership since at least 2011, and initially
projected the airplane would cost $300 million.
If Beijing hopes to deploy a spaceplane and a
new mothership by 2030, it needs to hurry...
and be prepared to spend a lot of m oney.The 2008 spaceplane under an H-6 during
initial testing. via Chinese internetEight years after
the X-37B began
its fi rst operational
mission in 2010, the
merits of a reusable
spaceplane are still
subject to intensive
debate
Chinese state television reported on the
spaceplane concept on March 7. An animation
accompanying the report depicts a sleek,
twin-engine mothership carrying it to high
altitude. The spaceplane’s single rocket engine
boosts the vehicle to low orbit, where it opens
dorsal bay doors and deploys a small satellite.
The spaceplane returns to earth and lands
like an airplane. A graphic on the news report
indicated that the spaceplane could be orbit-
ready in 2030.
The new vehicle, reportedly under
development by the state-owned China
Aerospace and Industry Corporation, is actually
the second major spaceplane concept to
appear in China in recent years. In 2008, a
robotic vehicle similar in shape and size to the
29ft-long X-37B was photographed under a
Chinese H-6 bomber.
In January 2011, the Chinese vehicle,
reportedly named ‘Divine Dragon’, made its rst
atmospheric test ight. It’s unclear whether
Divine Dragon’s development continued
after 2011.
Eight years after the X-37B began its rst
operational mission in 2010, the merits of
a reusable spaceplane are still subject to
intensive debate. The X-37B is essentially
a small, reusable satellite with shorter per-
mission endurance compared to single-use
satellites. Where many satellites can function
for up to a decade in orbit, the X-37B’s longest
mission as of early 2018 was its fourth,
beginning in May 2015. It lasted 717 days.94 Cutting Edge C.indd 94 21/03/2018 11:47