China’s secret reusable spaceplane completed its second mission Monday, landing after 276 days in orbit. Chinese state media and the manufacturer of the spacecraft, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), announced that the spacecraft landed on May 8, Beijing time. The seemingly successful mission has been hailed as a major breakthrough in the country’s research for reusable spacecraft technology. No footage, landing time and location were disclosed in the brief announcements.

According to the statement, the project will provide a more convenient and inexpensive way to access the space for peaceful use of the space in the future. The reusable test spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on August 4, 2022 (UTC). US Space Force tracking data showed a spacecraft launched an object into orbit late last year. A small satellite operating near the spacecraft.

This seemingly second flight of the stealth spacecraft is different from its first mission in 2020. During this flight, the spacecraft orbited for four days in an orbit of 331 by 347 kilometers at an angle of inclination of 50 degrees. The newly completed mission took 276 days, and the spacecraft entered an initial 346 by 593 kilometers orbit at an inclination angle of 50 degrees before returning to a 597 by 608 kilometer orbit.

During the flight, the spacecraft performed numerous small and much larger orbital maneuvers and made adjustments to prepare for landing in recent weeks. The landing probably took place at the Lop Nur military base in Xinjiang. According to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and spaceflight researcher, an orbital trace on the object made a landing possible around 00:20 UTC, according to the spacecraft’s orbital information.

An image from the Umbra synthetic aperture radar satellite shows recent activity at the Lop Nur site. China has released little information about the project. However, the spacecraft’s size and mass are limited to use by the Long March 2F rocket, which can launch just over 8 tonnes into low Earth orbit.

Clues to the plane’s size and shape emerged shortly after launch, when images of the mission’s payload surfaced online. The spacecraft appears to be involved in the development of the orbital segment of a fully reusable two-stage orbital space transport system. The vertical take-off and horizontal landing suborbital segment made its second flight in September 2022.

Last year, CASC’s reusable spaceplane project received national funding from the Natural Science Foundation of China. CASIC, a subsidiary of the defense and space contracting giant, is working on its own spaceplane called Tengyun. Meanwhile, a nonprofit called Space Transportation has raised more than $46.3 million for plans for a hypersonic spaceplane in 2021. Several Chinese rocket companies have also set up demonstrations, including small spaceplanes launched with liquid rocket concepts.

In recent years, China has sought to expand its access to space in various ways; this includes the development of a commercial space sector, with a number of operational solid-fuel launch vehicles and liquid-launch launch vehicles currently being developed.

Meanwhile, CASC, the country’s main space contractor, is developing new super-heavy reusable launch vehicles that will allow the country to attempt to land astronauts on the moon, and ultimately a fully reusable rocket for large-scale space infrastructure missions.