Chinese spaceplane programs
Daniel Shats (Author), Peter Wood (Author), BluePath Labs (Firm) (Issuing body), China Aerospace Studies Institute (U.S.) (Publisher)
Although China's spaceplane programs play a relatively small role in China's planned space programs, the technology has seen major investment since the Tengyun program was announced in 2016. While spaceplane development has historically been driven by the military and China's state-owned aerospace giants, recent years have seen a greater number of civilian-oriented spaceplane projects developed by smaller private firms. None of China's spaceplanes appear to have been fielded in a regular, operational form so far. Other related or supporting technologies such as reusable rockets are also still under development. While this may change in the coming decade, these programs continue to display clear borrowing from Western designs such as the Space Shuttle, X-37B or SpaceX rockets, rather than pathbreaking or entirely novel designs. This makes it likely that China will remain behind the curve for the foreseeable future when it comes to keeping pace with U.S. space technology
eBook, English, 2021
China Aerospace Studies Institute, Montgomery, AL, 2021