Chinese amphibious aircraft AG600, which is believed to be the world's largest, has successfully launched and landed for the first time on waters on Saturday.
The aircraft was built and developed by the Beijing owned tech giant Aviation Industry Corporation of China. AG600 took off from the Zhanghe Reservoir in Jingmen, located in Hubei's province at around 8.51 am.
As reported by local media, after the successful launch it stayed airborne for about 15 minutes and four crew members have piloted the aircraft.
Scientists gave a code name to AG600 and that is "Kunlong." In Tibetan, 'Kun' stands for "thoroughly" or "from the depths," while 'long' means denotes the act of causing something to stand up, to arise, or to awaken. On the other hand, 'Kunlong' is known as a principal town of Kunlong Township in Shan State, Myanmar.
However, the aircraft AG600 made its maiden flight at the coastal city at Zhuhai in December 2017. It is the third addition in the large aircraft family of China after the large freighter Y-20 and large passenger aircraft C919.
The Chinese president Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory note on the development and stated that the successful launch of AG600 has "marked another significant achievement through independent innovation by China's aviation industry".
The country has also planned to launch its own artificial moon by 2020 that would replace the streetlamps and will reduce the amount of electricity costs in urban area. Wu Chunfeng, the chairman of space contractor Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co (CASC) has revealed that the scientists are now developing "illumination satellites" which will shine with the real moon, but it will be eight times bigger than the natural satellite.
