The 2024 China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition was held in Zhuhai last week – from November 12th to 17th, 2024. Since 1996, and with support from the Chinese aerospace industry, this biennial festival features actual products, trade talks, technological exchanges, and an air show. This year’s big highlight was China’s newly announced reusable space cargo shuttle, the Haolong (Chinese for “dragon”). According to chief designer Fang Yuanpeng, the spacecraft has entered the engineering phase and will be ready for space in the near future.
The Haolong shuttle is being developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, which has developed several Chinese fighter jets in the past. It has a large wingspan, measuring eight meters (26.25 ft) in width and about 10 meters (33 ft) long, with a high lift-to-drag ratio. From the image provided (above), the design is clearly inspired by the now-retired Space Shuttle and features the same type of payload bay with two bay doors. While the cargo shuttle has a comparable wingspan (8.7 m; 29 ft), it is significantly shorter than the Space Shuttle, which measured 56.1 m (184 ft) in length.
This makes the Haolong (in terms of size) more akin to the X-37B and China’s Shenlong spaceplane. Like these spaceplanes, the Haolong spacecraft will be autonomous and feature cutting-edge aviation technologies. The design was one of several concepts issued in response to a solicitation by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) for low-cost and commercial cargo spacecraft. These will provide logistical support for China’s Tiangong space station as it undergoes expansion in the coming years.
Artist’s impression of China’s reusable Shenlong spaceplane. Credit: China Aerospace Studies Institute
According to the state-owned news agency Xinhua, the winners of the solicitation were announced on October 29th. This included the CMSA’s Haolong shuttle and the Qingzhou spacecraft, an integrated cargo capsule submitted by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS). According to Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of the CMSA, both companies won contracts for the flight verification phase of their proposals. According to Fang, the space shuttle Haolong will launch into orbit via a commercial carrier rocket, make atmospheric reentry, and land horizontally on a runway.
Once it reaches orbit, it will unfold its solar panels and open its docking shield. The shuttle’s rear will dock with Tiangong, where taikonauts can access the cargo bay and transfer the payload to the space station. According to Fang, “the Hoalong can receive maintenance similar to an aircraft after landing, so it can conduct another mission.” The spacecraft has already completed the design phase and is moving into engineering development. Fang indicated that this phase is well underway and will be followed by the cargo mission phase. “I believe that the public will see it soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft has a cargo volume of up to 27 cubic meters, which is expected to provide logistics flexibility and significantly reduce transportation costs. According to Xinhua, Qingzhou also has an intelligent transportation system capable of supporting crewed and uncrewed in-orbit experiments. The cargo spacecraft is scheduled to be launched by the Lijian-2, a reusable rocket currently under development by CAS Space. This rocket is one of several reusable medium-lift launch vehicles China plans to debut in the coming years.
Lin also noted that “this strategic move will not only slash cargo transportation costs for the space station but also pave the way for new opportunities in the growth of the country’s commercial space industry.” According to market research, China’s commercial space industry is expected to reach a market value of 2.34 trillion yuan ($323.35 billion) by the end of 2024.
Further Reading: Global Times