26 April 2021
CASIC plans to produce a reusable aerospace plane and put it into commercial flight by 2030. The plane will take off from and land on a conventional runway like a jetliner and will be capable of flying in near space or even into outer space. The low-cost aircraft will have high-quality safety features and will be used to fulfill a wide range of operations such as space tourism, astronaut commuting, satellite deployment, cargo transportation and emergency rescue, the State-owned defense conglomerate said in an introduction board in front of a scale model of the new craft, which is on display at the 2021 China Space Conference. The company said it has conducted a key flight test by a conceptual demonstration prototype to verify the propulsion shift mechanism between ramjet and rocket engine.
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