China to build the world’s biggest space plane by 2020
China to build the world’s biggest space plane by 2020: Aircraft would take 20 tourists 80 miles above Earth
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology designed the plane
It would fly above statosphere giving people 4 minutes of weightlessness
A ride could cost from $200,000 to $250,000 (£160,552 to £200,690)
The test flights will be finished in the next two years, the developers claim
This year China has been firmly establishing its place in the space race, by unveiling the world’s largest radio telescope, launching a space lab in preparation for a space station and unveiling plans to send a mission to Mars.
Now it seems the country also has its eyes on commercial spaceflight.
Designs of a new space plane, which could fly up to 20 passengers to the edge of space each day, have been revealed.
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing designed the plane, and presented its ideas at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico last month,New Scientist revealed.
China’s plane would be a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the magazine reported.
‘The vehicle will take off vertically like a rocket and land on the runway automatically without any ground or on-board intervention,’ said team leader Han Pengxin.
The researchers presented two ideas.
The first design weighs in at 10 tonnes and has a wingspan of 19.6 feet (6 metres).
This smaller version should be able to fly five people to an altitude of 62 miles (100 km), where space officially begins, letting passengers experience two minutes of weightlessness.
The second design was for a scaled up 100-tonne version, with a 40 foot (12 metre) wingspan, could fly 20 people to 80 miles (130 km), giving four minutes of weightlessness.
据项目领队Han Pengxin介绍，目前正在研发的空天飞机有一大一小两种设计方案。
其一设计重量为10吨，翼展6米，能够将5人带入100km的高空体验约2分钟的失重。
其二设计重量100吨，翼展12米，能够将20人带到130km的太空当中，体验4分钟左右的失重环境。而这也是迄今为止世界上最大的空天飞机。
值得注意的是，中国设计的空天飞机采用垂直起落方式，无需任何地面跑道和飞行平台辅助即可以完成发射和降落过程。
Han Pengxin透露，中国空天飞机的试飞将于未来2年内进行，目前地面试验已经完成，各项系统工作正常。
Han Pengxin预计，未来乘坐中国空天飞机进行太空游的价格将在20万至15万美元之间（约合133-167万人民币)。
China’s Private Space Industry Prepares to Compete with Spacex and Blue Origin
In the US, much of the recent media attention to space travel is centered on the activities of flamboyant billionaires and private companies. Left out, though, is the fact that, like in much of the rest of global business, a new generation of Chinese commercial and tourist space endeavors are looking to compete as well.
One of the more intriguing of China’s emerging commercial space launch companies is Expace. Founded in February, the firm will be the lead tenant of China’s first commercial space industrial park in Wuhan, China. It has already signed up over 10 launches for its solid fueled Kuaizhou Rockets. Zhang Di, Expace’s chairman, is also a Deputy Director of the Fourth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), which makes the Kuaizhou rockets.
The Kuaizhou, which is derived from the launch vehicle for Chinese anti-satellite weapons and midcourse missile defense interceptors, is a solid-fueled, 2 diameter rocket; the latest KZ-11 can loft a 1.5 ton payload to low Earth orbit at a launch cost of $10,000 per kg. Expace’s target market is to launch small satellites for domestic and foreign customers; the solid fuel of the KZ-11 also means that compared to liquid fueled rockets, it can be launched on demand.
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China’s Private Space Industry Prepares to Compete with Spacex and Blue Origin
(Popular Science) In the US, much of the recent media attention to space travel is centered on the activities of flamboyant billionaires and private companies. Left out, though, is the fact that, like in much of the rest of global business, a new generation of Chinese commercial and tourist space endeavors are looking to compete as well.
One of the more intriguing of China’s emerging commercial space launch companies is Expace. Founded in February, the firm will be the lead tenant of China’s first commercial space industrial park in Wuhan, China. It has already signed up over 10 launches for its solid fueled Kuaizhou Rockets. Zhang Di, Expace’s chairman, is also a Deputy Director of the Fourth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), which makes the Kuaizhou rockets.
The Kuaizhou, which is derived from the launch vehicle for Chinese anti-satellite weapons and midcourse missile defense interceptors, is a solid-fueled, 2 diameter rocket; the latest KZ-11 can loft a 1.5 ton payload to low Earth orbit at a launch cost of $10,000 per kg. Expace’s target market is to launch small satellites for domestic and foreign customers; the solid fuel of the KZ-11 also means that compared to liquid fueled rockets, it can be launched on demand.
As a part of its $1.5 billion investment in futuristic tourism and a space theme park, the Kuang Chi Group is looking to give tourists the high life; a 3-hour flight in a “Cloud” high altitude balloon that starts at the exo-atmopshere, 24 kilometers above the ground. The tourists will be seated in a space capsule inspired “Traveler” cabin, which dangles daringly out from under the airship. The Kuang Chi Cloud balloon could be related to China’s giant high altitude Yuanmeng airship, which first flew in October 2015. Both the Yuanmeng and Cloud have more serious applications as well. They can take on roles like persistent wide area sensor coverage for missions from natural disaster relief to missile defense; the high altitude of these airships could also make them communications nodes in case satellite networks fail.
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technologies (CALT), another Chinese aerospace research giant that strides between the public and private sector, unveiled plans of the world’s largest (albeit suborbital) single stage spaceplane at the International Aeronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, on September 30th. Both spaceplanes will take off vertically; the smaller 10 ton spaceplane is designed to carry four persons and fly at Mach 6 to 100 km in altitude, and the 100 ton, 20 passenger variant would fly at Mach 8 to 130 km altitude. The smaller spaceplane is likely to be a technology demonstrator and the larger one will initially carry only cargo on its first flights. Interestingly, the spaceplanes will have liquid oxygen and liquid methane engines; both the Space X Raptor and Blue Origin BE-4 engines also burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane. CALT hopes to fly each spaceplane 50 times before sending it back for a factory overhaul.
The large Chinese spaceplane is designed to be used to launch orbital payloads; it will carry a strap-on, second stage rocket past the Karman line (100km altitude). This will separate and place the 1-2 ton satellite in orbit. (The American DARPA XS-1 uses a similar design.) While building a 100 ton spaceplane, and at least flying a smaller technology demonstrator in 2020 is an ambitious time schedule for anyone, the technology has been proved by other countries. For instance, Blue Origin’s New Shepard (though a reusable rocket rather than spaceplane) weighs 75 tons and can also breach the Karman line. The CALT spaceplanes could also demonstrate the success of technologies such as thermal shielding and landing guidance avionics that would pave the way for other Chinese spaceplanes, like the orbital “hybrid” spaceplane set to fly in the mid 2020s.
Source: Popular Science by Jeffrey Lin
http://www.technologynewschina.com/2016/10/chinas-private-space-industry-prepares.html