Space: China received a spacecraft that stayed in orbit for 276 days

The Sky Palace Brick, the space station that China is building to provide a base for infinity exploration? China’s experimental spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday as planned after staying in orbit for 276 days, according to Chinese state media. The uncrewed spacecraft returned to the Jiuquan launch complex.

No details have been released about the nature of the vehicle, the technologies tested, the altitude it has flown and the orbits it has traveled since its launch in early August 2022. Images of the ship have not yet been released to the public.

In 2021, a similar spacecraft may have flown to the edge of space and returned to Earth on the same day in a mission that has also remained largely undisclosed. According to China’s top space service provider at the time, it landed “horizontally” on Earth.

But already the Communist Party’s official voice says the new test marks an “important” advance in China’s research into reusable spacecraft technology, which will offer a more practical and less expensive way to organize future space missions. And announced preparations for the launch from its site in Wenchang of an assembly consisting of a Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft and a Long March-7 Y-7 launch vehicle. This time a manned flight.

Some on Chinese social media speculate that Beijing is developing a spacecraft like the US Air Force’s X-37B, an autonomous space plane that can stay in orbit for years. The unmanned reusable X-37B returned to Earth last November for its sixth and final mission after more than 900 days in orbit.