BREMEN, Germany — Beijing-based Space Transportation is projecting the second half of 2025 for a first test of its Cuantianhou near space reusable spaceplane prototype.
Space Transportation, or Lingkong Tianxing Technology, said in late October it conducted a test flight of a prototype commercial transport plane that can travel at Mach 4. Followup assessments for its engine technology are planned for November.
The company put a model of the Cuantianhou spaceplane on display at Space Tech Expo Europe here in Bremen. The prototype will have a length of 11.8 meters, a wingspan of 4.4 meters and a maximum takeoff weight of around 4,500 kilograms.
The spaceplane is designed for vertical takeoff, powered by a solid rocket booster, and will land vertically using active deceleration. Its cruising speed will be Mach 4 with a range of 3,000 kilometers, and can cruise at above an altitude of 20 kilometers. It will use a pair of rotating detonation engines.
Space Transportation aims to have a passenger craft ready by 2027, Fan Deng, general manager of Space Transportation, told SpaceNews. Cuantianhou will be capable of carrying two passengers, without need for pilots.
The ultimate goal is hypersonic point-to-point travel, for example taking passengers from Beijing to New York in around two hours. And for this, Cuantianhou is itself a stepping stone.
By 2031, according to the company’s roadmap, a larger spaceplane will be ready. It will be 30 meters long, weigh 70 tons, achieve speeds of Mach 5 and be capable of carrying 50 passengers. It will use turbine-based combined cycle engines.
Space Transportation has secured funding rounds on the order of tens of millions each. These have been led by a combination of Chinese state-linked investment vehicles and private investment.
It has 600 employees across five companies, including research and development in Beijing, solid booster development in Xi’an, and manufacturing in Chengdu.
The technical and engineering aspects will be major challenges, such as dealing with high kinetic heating. In 2021, the company stated plans for various large-scale technology verification flights through 2022 with the goal of a first flight of a suborbital space tourism vehicle prototype in 2023. A first crewed test flight was to follow in 2025. That timeline has been altered.
Yet, if these hurdles are overcome, there are other barriers to Space Transportation’s vision.
“One big challenge is technology, and another big challenge, actually, is policy, the aviation policy of different countries,” said Fan. “So in the future, we must do much more work on that.” International regulations that could affect the viability of point-to-point hypersonic travel include airspace management, sonic boom regulations, certification and safety standards and environmental impact, while geopolitics could also play a part.
Part of the reason for Space Transportation’s presence at Space Tech Expo Europe is to begin engagement outside China, Fan stated.
Fan also noted, as an advantage, that China has some of the world’s largest markets. “So if we want to invent or produce some products, it will spread around very quickly, just like electric cars,” Fan added.
Asked how difficult it was to start a company in China working on hypersonics, Fan said: “It’s hard to answer this question. But China has a huge number of engineers in this field, not only in hypersonics, but also supersonic and in design, manufacturing.”
