THE NEW SPACE RACE: China declares price war on SpaceX reusable rockets, with economy driving new aerospace programme.

With an aim of bringing the payload cost down to about US$150 dollars per kilogram, the Chinese space plane is likely to remain competitive as the space race moves to a new, more intense stage, according to Song’s team.

China conducted two test flights of the new transport system in the Gobi Desert, the researchers said.

In July 2021, a space plane blasted off vertically from a rocket launch pad, made a suborbital flight in space and touched down at a military airport.
The same hypersonic vessel was launched again in August last year and returned unscratched, proving the reusable design was feasible.

But the tested plane was smaller than the final version, which still needs years of development to enter commercial service, according to Song’s team.

It’s one thing to declare a price war, but it’s quite another to actually wage one with a launch vehicle that doesn’t exist yet.