After nine months in orbit, China’s mysterious spacecraft has landed for the second time, making the country one of the few organizations to successfully launch and recover a reusable spacecraft.

“The full success of this experiment marks a significant breakthrough in our country’s research into reusable spacecraft technologies” – reported by China’s state media agency Xinhua earlier this month.

However, the Chinese government has released little additional information about the ship; Details of its design, capabilities and performance remain unclear.

Experts believe that the Chinese spaceplane probably looks like the Boeing X-37B, american space planeIt debuted in 2010. Kevin PollpeterA research fellow at the Center for Marine Analysis said the discovery of the X-37B sparked a spark. Concern by the Chinese government about the ship’s military potential. This may have prompted the country to begin developing its own version of the space program, which is closely linked to its military, Pollpeter said.

Like the X-37B spacecraft, the Chinese vehicle appears relatively small and unmanned. It will likely fly for the first time in September 2020, making a short two-day flight into orbit before returning to Earth. According to the report, its last mission began in August 2022, when it took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northern China with a Long March 2F rocket. Centre For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based in Washington, DC. The exact purpose of the mission remains unclear.

In accordance with the CSIS report, the spacecraft launched the “object” into an intermediate orbit in October. The object apparently disappeared in January, but suddenly reappeared on satellite tracking radar in March. Experts believe this could indicate that the aircraft has some sort of satellite ejection capability, such as a robotic arm.

“[Китайці] “We’ve worked extensively with robotic arms in other contexts, such as the Chinese space station,” Nature said. Jonathan McDowellAn astrophysicist at Harvard and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

If so, the main purpose of the aircraft may be to repair damaged satellites or remove debris from orbit. However, this does not exclude military possibilities for neither the Chinese spacecraft nor the X-37B. But until more details emerge, the best we can do is speculate.