The new spacecraft is likely much smaller than the U.S.'s space shuttle, which launched using rockets and then glided back to Earth. Instead, McDowell and others think the new Chinese vehicle probably resembles a robotic spacecraft called the X-37B. The X-37B has been operated by the U.S. Air Force for about a decade.
So why might China now be getting into space planes?
"It's a great question," says Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation, which advocates for the peaceful use of space. "We're not even really sure why the U.S. military is pursuing a space plane."
The U.S. X-37B program remains highly classified. Weeden says he believes it is being used to test new sensors and systems for the military.
McDowell says that space planes, which reenter Earth's atmosphere at many times the speed of sound, could also potentially aid the development of hypersonic weapons. But he believes China's motivation could be as simple as wanting to duplicate U.S. military capabilities.
" 'If the Americans have one of those, there's got to be a good reason for it, so we better get one too,' " he says. Such thinking drove the Soviet Union to develop a copy of the U.S. space shuttle in the 1980s, though it never got much use.
美国NPR猜测中国九月六号成功试飞了类似美国X37B的空天飞机。
那， 中国为什么要发展空天飞机？
文章说， 我们都不知道为什么美国军方要发展X37B空天飞机。X37B也是高度保密， 只能靠猜测它的功能。
中国认为， 美国有空天飞机， 肯定是有好理由的。所以中国也要有。
The new spacecraft is likely much smaller than the U.S.'s space shuttle,
which launched using rockets and then glided back to Earth. Instead,
McDowell and others think the new Chinese vehicle probably resembles a
robotic spacecraft called the X-37B. The X-37B has been operated by the U.S. Air Force for about a decade.
So why might China now be getting into space planes?
"It's a great question," says Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation, which advocates for the peaceful use of space. "We're not even really sure why the U.S. military is pursuing a space plane."
The U.S. X-37B program remains highly classified. Weeden says he believes it is being used to test new sensors and systems for the military.
McDowell says that space planes, which reenter Earth's atmosphere at many
times the speed of sound, could also potentially aid the development of
hypersonic weapons. But he believes China's motivation could be as simple as wanting to duplicate U.S. military capabilities.
" 'If the Americans have one of those, there's got to be a good reason for
it, so we better get one too,' " he says. Such thinking drove the Soviet
Union to develop a copy of the U.S. space shuttle in the 1980s, though it
never got much use.
哈哈，中国看着美国有川普，羡慕得眼睛都绿了
就是为了俘获敌国卫星，带回去撸
川普也是高度保密，功能不详？