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China Plans to Also Launch Reusable Spaceplanes by 2020 (arstechnica.com)
Slashdot reader hackingbear writes: According to a statement from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China's reusable spaceplane will launch in 2020. The spaceplane will be launched vertically by a winged rocket to orbit and each of them will be returned to the ground horizontally, according to Chinese media reports. The system is designed to be reusable in 24 hours and for at least 20 times, cutting launch costs to 1/10 of the current price... "Currently China is developing its own reusable earth-to-orbit space vehicles that can take off and land horizontally," Liu Shiquan, vice director of the China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation, said. "We have already finished several crucial ground tests for engines and [other key components], yielding remarkable achievements."
I know.. isn't it weird how a hollow announcement of someone's "plans" beats out actual achievements?
You wouldn't even have learned words like corona or chromoSPHERE, or even eclipse, if what you're trying to convince us were true. You're just a troll. And not a very good one at that.
Nothing fundamentally wrong with a fully re-usable space plane but the 2020 launch date would imply that they are very far along. If so, I'm surprised no design information has leaked out. They should already be testing full scale gliding models etc.
I hope its real and they have just been keeping it hush hush: the more human capability there is to do space, the happier I am. I'll believe it though when I see some pictures of actual hardware .
From the list of astronauts you can see that there have been six missions to space. The last one, Shenzhou 11, launched on 16 October 2016 and rendezvoused with the space laboratory. They stayed in orbit for a month.
The Chinese are taking their time and making sure that they get everything right. They are definitely not rushing things with their program. I wouldn't put down the Chinese space program as they at least have the capability to put people into orbit unlike the US.
Wow, you are a fucking genius at guessing.
Meanwhile american BATTLE cruisers are a death trap for their own crewmen.
Would you care to test that for yourself, Mr. AC? Would you dare to confront an American Battle Cruiser on the high seas and only have concern for it's own crewman?
I'm the OP's author. They are developing both versions. The vertical take off one is to be launched in 2020 and the horizontal take off one by 2030. I made it clear in my original post as a side note. The English news article omitted the details.