China claims it has launched and landed a new suborbital reusable spacecraft
Reports from China’s state-run press today and yesterday claim that a pseudo-company, CAS Space (wholly owned by a government agency) has successfully completed the first test flight and parachute recovery of a new small scale suborbital reusable spacecraft dubbed PH-1.
The vehicle lifted off at about 4 pm and reached an altitude of roughly 120 kilometers, passing the Karman line — commonly regarded as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space — before descending back to Earth. After re-entering the atmosphere, its recoverable payload cabin deployed a parachute at around 10 km and landed smoothly at a designated site, the company said.
CAS Space said the test validated key technologies, including re-entry deceleration, parachute recovery and precision landing control. Engineers also assessed the performance of critical components during the flight.
A handful of images were released yesterday, but none showed the recovered capsule or its landing.
It is probably that this test was as successful as China’s press claims. It is also possible that this reporting has been carefully designed to hide aspects of the flight that were a failure.
Once developed, CAS Space claims the spacecraft, also dubbed Lihong-1, could be used to provide experiments about 300 seconds of weightlessness. This is not much longer than the periods of weightlessness produced when flying in a “vomit comet” airplane. Moreover, this spacecraft appears too small for manned flights. A larger spacecraft would have to be developed for that purpose.
Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the link to the images.
Reports from China’s state-run press today and yesterday claim that a pseudo-company, CAS Space (wholly owned by a government agency) has successfully completed the first test flight and parachute recovery of a new small scale suborbital reusable spacecraft dubbed PH-1.
The vehicle lifted off at about 4 pm and reached an altitude of roughly 120 kilometers, passing the Karman line — commonly regarded as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space — before descending back to Earth. After re-entering the atmosphere, its recoverable payload cabin deployed a parachute at around 10 km and landed smoothly at a designated site, the company said.
CAS Space said the test validated key technologies, including re-entry deceleration, parachute recovery and precision landing control. Engineers also assessed the performance of critical components during the flight.
A handful of images were released yesterday, but none showed the recovered capsule or its landing.
It is probably that this test was as successful as China’s press claims. It is also possible that this reporting has been carefully designed to hide aspects of the flight that were a failure.
Once developed, CAS Space claims the spacecraft, also dubbed Lihong-1, could be used to provide experiments about 300 seconds of weightlessness. This is not much longer than the periods of weightlessness produced when flying in a “vomit comet” airplane. Moreover, this spacecraft appears too small for manned flights. A larger spacecraft would have to be developed for that purpose.
Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the link to the images.