Iaotian-1, a Chinese hypersonic reentry demonstrator

kroko said:

hulun buir region? thats in the border with russia. I have doubts that china would want to test unpowered planes on that place. Could fall into the wrong side of the border...

Click to expand...

Non-power is not the same as uncontrollable. For example, gliders are not powered, yet they are as controllable as their powered counterpart.

If the test is analogous to the testing of the American dream chaser's recent glide test, which was based on a helicopter drop. then the range involved is fairly short and not likely to cause accidental boarder penetration.
sense both platforms are based on hypersonic entry they should be a good analog. It does make me wonder though as to the potential application of the platform being demonstrated, as Dream chaser is a commercial crew launch system. Although its possible that there maybe some military application in mind, I would prefer a peaceful application like a orbital vehicle.