China’s experimental reusable spacecraft has completed its third orbital test, landing at its designated site in the Gobi Desert on Friday after 268 days in space, according to state media.

The Shenlong – which launched aboard a Long March-2F rocket on December 14 – touched down successfully at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, state news agency Xinhua said.

 

The report said the latest launch, which was used to verify reusable technology and conduct space science experiments, showed that the country’s reusable spacecraft technology was maturing.

Reusable space planes could become a convenient and affordable way to commute to and from space in the future. The United States is the only other country in the world with reusable spacecraft.

There are concerns that space planes that are capable of launching microsatellites could be used for military applications.

Shenlong’s previous flight lasted 276 days before it returned to Earth in May last year. It was hailed by state media as a breakthrough in China’s research on reusable spacecraft technology.

China has remained tight-lipped on the space plane’s specifications since its first orbital test in 2020, and has yet to reveal technical details, including its size or weight.

 

While specifics of the third mission’s purpose and payload are not known, the space plane raised its orbit in January from 300km to 600km (186 to 372 miles) above Earth.

The mysterious spacecraft in orbit was potentially caught on camera for the first time last month by Austrian space watcher Felix Schöfbänker, who captured images that appeared to show it in flight.

Shenlong is seen as a counterpart to the US military space plane X-37B, which launched on its seventh mission in December – just two weeks after the Chinese space plane – following several delays.

While details about the US space plane launched under the military’s National Security Space Launch programme have also been sparse, the Boeing-built vehicle is known to be able to conduct experiments and deploy various payloads while on long-duration flights.

The X-37B still holds the record for the longest reusable spacecraft mission in orbit, spending 908 days in space on its sixth mission. It remains in orbit around the Earth following its latest launch.

Observers have noted that the Shenlong spacecraft is similar to the X-37B, including appearing to be around 10 metres long and weighing 5-8 tonnes.

In May, the US Space Force detected an object being launched from the Shenlong spacecraft while it orbited 600km above Earth, which then entered into orbit at a similar altitude to the plane.

Space activity trackers suggest that multiple objects have been released from the plane since its launch, which may have been satellites or debris from the Long March rocket.

The latest state media report about Shenlong’s return to Earth does not indicate what the objects launched were or whether they remain in orbit