Science & Technology

China is working on a hypersonic spaceplane

By T.K. Randall
August 14, 2016

Image: F-22 Raptor
Credit: Kevin Robertson / (PD) U.S. Air Force Currently being worked on by The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CATSC), the new vehicle will be capable of not only taking off and landing vertically on a runway, but will also have the ability to fly in to orbit using a powerful set of onboard rocket motors.

Equipped with a ramjet engine as well as either a turbofan or turbojet engine, the spacecraft will be reusable like NASA's old space shuttles and could usher in a whole new era of space travel.The news follows on from reports that Russia is also said to be building what it calls a "combined aircraft engine" for its PAK-DA strategic bomber which would be able to launch nukes from space.

It looks like the skies are likely to become a lot more crowded over the coming decades.

Source: Russia Today

Tags: China, Hypersonic, Plane, Spacecraft