China’s Proposed Cargo Shuttle, the Haolong, Has Entered Development

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.

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