New Chinese Space Plane Landed At Mysterious Air Base,

Evidence Suggests

Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/09/911113352/new-chinese-space-plane-landed-at-mysterious-
air-base-evidence-suggests

Transcript:

China's military appears to have successfully tested a new spacecraft. Last week's mission was
shrouded in secrecy. But as NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports, there are some clues about what China
sent into space and why.

Last Friday, a Chinese rocket took off carrying a mysterious payload. A terse statement on state
media said it was, quote, "a reusable experimental spacecraft."

But they didn't give a launch time. They don't give any more details - no real official footage of the
launch.

Jonathan McDowell is an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, who
specializes in tracking satellites and spacecraft orbiting the Earth. When he plotted the course of
China's new craft, he found that it passed over a secretive military facility, an area called Lop Nur
where China once tested its nuclear weapons.

There's an air base there, which has a big runway that's aligned exactly in the direction of the orbit
of the spacecraft.

On Sunday, China announced its new spacecraft had landed. Sure enough, fuzzy satellite images
snapped by a commercial company called Planet seemed to show activity on the giant runway right
at the moment the landing would have occurred. McDowell says that the evidence is circumstantial,
but he believes China has just tested a space plane. Think of it as a little space shuttle, a craft with
wings, probably too small to carry people that took off on a rocket and coasted back to Earth.

The information sort of all hangs together now that this was a test of something, probably a space
plane, that made a winged reentry and landed on the runway at Lop Nur.

The U.S. Air Force has a similar spacecraft called the X-37B. It's been launching since 2010. So if
that's what China tested, why now?

It's a great question. We're not even really sure why the United States military is pursuing a space
plane like it's been doing for the last decade or so.

Brian Weeden studies space security issues with the Secure World Foundation. The U.S. X-37B
program remains highly classified. Weeden says he believes it's being used to test new sensors and
systems for the military.

Think about it. If you're building a brand-new satellite and you've got a lot of fancy new technology
that's never been in space before, that's potentially risky. But if you can fly some of that technology
in space, let's say, in the payload bay of a reusable space plane, that could allow you to get a better
feel for how it might react.
McDowell says that space planes, which travel many times the speed of sound, could also potentially
help with the development of so-called hypersonic weapons. But, honestly, he thinks China could
just be copying the U.S.

If the Americans have one of those, there must be a good reason for it. So we better get one, too.

The landing of the space plane or whatever it was is just the latest success for China. McDowell says
it recently completed its own satellite navigation system. It has a robotic mission going to Mars and
several probes on the moon.

China is firing on all thrusters in space and just really increasing its level of involvement and
capabilities. And I think that this is just one more reflection of that.

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News, Washington.

Design:

Last week's mission was (1) ___________________________.

A (2) __________________________ on state media said it was "a reusable experimental

spacecraft."

Jonathan McDowell is an astronomer at the (3) _________________________, Harvard &

Smithsonian.

When he (4) __________________________ of China's new craft, he found that it passed over a (5)
________________________, an area called Lop Nur where China once tested its nuclear weapons.

Sure enough, fuzzy satellite images (6) ___________________________ by a commercial company

called Planet seemed to show activity on the giant runway.

The information sort of all hangs together now that this was a test of something, probably a space
plane, that made a (7) __________________________ and landed on the runway at Lop Nur.

McDowell says that space planes, which travel many times the speed of sound, could also potentially
help with the development of so-called (8) _____________________________.

China is firing on all (9) __________________________ in space and just really increasing its level of
involvement and capabilities.