Chinese spacecraft returns to Earth after 276 day mystery mission

Space is full of mysteries which we will never likely solve but, generally, we at least know a thing or two about craft we send out into the cosmos.

Not so, when it comes to one probe which has just touched back down on Earth after 276 days in orbit.

The experimental spacecraft was launched by China’s space agency, ostensibly to test the nation’s reusable space technologies.

According to state media agency Xinhua News, the mission’s aim was to help with the development of “more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future”.

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That all sounds pretty similar to what SpaceX and NASA are up to, except that the Chinese spacecraft and its journey have been shrouded in secrecy.

No information has been released on the altitude it reached or the systems it tested. We don’t even know where it went or, indeed, what kind of spacecraft it was – not a single image has been released to the public.

Commentators on Chinese social media have speculated that Beijing has been developing a spacecraft like the UAir Force's X-37B, an autonomous spaceplane that can remain in orbit for years.

However, no one knows how well this is going nor, indeed, if it’s going at all.

All we do know about China’s latest unidentified flying object is that it was launched from the Jiquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on August 5, 2022 and returned to the same site on 8 May, 2023.

A rocket and manned spacecraft takes off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to build China's space station on June 5, 2022Reuters

It follows an earlier mission, carried out in July last year, which saw a Chinese spacecraft fly to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere and back on the same day.

The country’s main space contractor, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), hailed the success of the craft’s brief celestial jaunt at the time.

It gushed: "The development of reusable space transportation technology is an important symbol of China's transition from a 'big' space-faring nation to a 'powerful' space-faring one.”

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