Shenlong (spacecraft)

Shenlong
Role	Reusable uncrewed spaceplane
National origen	China
First flight	11 December 2007 (drop tests) 8 January 2011 (suborbital flight)
Status	Deployed (in use), 3 missions done
Primary user	People's Liberation Army (PLA) China National Space Administration (CNSA)

Shenlong (simplified Chinese: 神龙; traditional Chinese: 神龍; pinyin: shén lóng; lit. 'divine dragon') is a Chinese reusable robotic spaceplane currently in development. Only a few pictures have appeared since it was revealed in late 2007.

Test platform

The latest academic models, shown in 2000, reveal a delta-winged spaceplane with a single vertical stabilizer, equipped with three high-expansion engines. Presuming a seating arrangement of two crew members sitting side-by-side in the cockpit, dimensions could be very roughly estimated as a wingspan of 8 m, a length of 12 m and a total mass of 12 tonnes. This is within the payload capability of the Chinese CZ-2F or type A launch vehicles.

Spaceplane

Images of an aerodynamic scaled model, ready to be launched from under the fuselage of a Xian H-6 bomber, were first published on 11 December 2007. Code named Program 863-706, the Chinese name of this spacecraft was revealed as "Shenlong Spaceplane" (神龙空天飞机). These images, possibly taken in late 2005, show the vehicle's black reentry heat shielding, indicating a reusable design, and its engine assembly. The first sub-orbital flight of the Shenlong reportedly took place on 8 January 2011.

Earlier, images of the High-enthalpy Shock Waves Laboratory wind tunnel of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) State Key Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics (LHD) were published in the Chinese media. Tests with speeds up to Mach 20 were reached in around 2001.

As of 2007, the CAS academician Zhunang Fenggan (莊逢甘) said that a first test flight of the spaceplane would be conducted during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan", from 2006 to 2010.

See also

• Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft
• Boeing X-37 – American reusable spacecraft