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A new report from the US intelligence agency appears to have released the first clear photograph of The mysterious Chinese “dragon” space plane orbiting the Earth. The surprise shot reveals that the top secret vehicle is very similar to its American counterpart and provides new clues about its capabilities.
The image is widely believed to show China’s secret space plane Shenlong, or “divine dragon”, which has been in action for just over six years. Meanwhile, the reusable winged spacecraft has made headlines several times After deploy various unidentified objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). As a result, government officials, private companies and individual researchers closely monitored the vehicle using tools such as ground radar.
So far, the only direct images from the space plane have been blurry snapshots of light reflecting off the unmanned vehicle towards the Earth’s surface – offering no clear clue to its specific design, capabilities or intended purpose. China has also never publicly shared photos of the vehicle or revealed key information about its design.
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On Monday, October 26, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released the latest version of its “Challenges for Security in Space.” reportwhich assesses the various factors that pose a risk to U.S. space assets. Deep within the 130-page document (page 53), the authors included a never-before-seen image of a “PRC (People’s Republic of China) spaceplane.” The image’s brief caption revealed that the photo was taken in 2024 by a satellite owned by private space company Maxar Technologies, now known as Vantor.
The surprise inclusion of the photo was spotted and shared on the social platform Andrew Jonesspecialized in the Chinese space program and who has already shared crucial information on other ongoing missions.
The new image suggests that Shenlong looks a lot like the US Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane, which is also currently orbiting Earth.
(Image credit: US Space Force)
Neither the caption nor the corresponding section of the report mentioned that the photo was the first of its kind or explained why it had been previously classified, raising questions about whether the authors realized its significance.
There is a small caveat. The report notes that China has two active spaceplane models – Shenlong and Tengyun, which means “cloud rider” – and the image caption does not specify which model we are looking at, according to The Aviator.
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However, no confirmed launch of Tengyun has been confirmed as of today. Existing photos of a potential prototype also suggest that this the design of the vehicle is significantly different from what we can see in the new photo. Therefore, most experts agree that the spaceship in the image is most likely Shenlong.
What does the new photo tell us?
Until now, all we really knew about Shenlong is that it works the same way as NASA’s iconic space shuttles: it is launched into space by a rocket and circles the Earth before finally gliding to the planet’s surface, where it can then be refueled and launched back to LEO.
It’s not the only active space plane in the world. The US Space Force has its own X-37B, which has already completed seven orbital missions since its first launch in 2010 and is currently in LEO experiment with quantum navigation. Based on the new photos, Shenlong shares many similarities with its American counterpart.
Until now, the only direct images from Shenlong have been blurry images of light reflected from the spacecraft toward Earth’s surface.
(Image credit: Felix Schöfbänker via Space.com)
“Chinese space plane has delta wings, cargo doors, dark heat shield and rear-mounted service module with power-generating solar panels,” technology news site ArsTechnica reported. “In other words, the design of the winged craft is, to a large extent, a copy of the X-37B space plane flown by the US Space Force.”
However, the two spacecraft are not exactly the same: “The general layout resembles the American vehicle, although differences in wing geometry show that the two spacecraft are not externally identical,” according to the specialist news site. Global Defense News.
It is still unclear how big Shenlong is. The X-37B is 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and has a wingspan of 15 feet (4.5 m), according to Popular science.
The new image also indicates that Shenlong is likely not a military asset, Global Defense News reported, noting that “the image does not establish a military role.”
The Shenlong shares the same key design features as the X-37B (right), but is not identical to its American counterpart.
(Image credit: Left image: DIA/Maxar Technologies; right image: USAF/SpaceX)
However, China probably has other space weaponssimilar to the mysterious US weapons “in orbit” recently confirmed by Secretary of the US Air Force Troy E. Meink.
“China has developed and will continue to develop weapons intended for use against orbiting satellites to disrupt, damage, and destroy the space capabilities of other countries,” DIA officials wrote in a separate section of the new report. “Beijing aims to become the preeminent leader in the space field,” they added.
Shenlong’s story so far
Since its first launch into space for an initial two-day mission in September 2020, Shenlong has completed two feature-length missions: one eight-month stay in LEO between August 2022 and May 2023, and a nine-month space flight between December 2023 and September 2024. (The new image was taken during this last mission).
The spaceplane is currently on its fourth mission, launched on February 7 aboard a Long March 2F rocket from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a Live Science partner site. Space.com previously reported. In total, Shenlong has accumulated more than 800 days in orbit. However, it is unclear whether the same spaceplane was used in all four missions or whether China is using multiple spaceplanes.
Shenlong was recently launched into space aboard a Long March 2F rocket on February 7. (This image shows the same rocket during another launch in 2011.)
(Image credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
So far, Shelong has dropped at least nine unidentified payloads around Earth. These objects are most likely small satellites, called cubesats, but their purpose remains unclear.
The most recent object was deployed in June this year, although the astronomer Jonathan McDowellspecialized in tracking spacecraft in LEO, has since suggested that the spacecraft recovered the object, potentially with a robotic armand reissued it at the end of August.
The new report also mentions that the spaceplane “appeared to be maneuvering with a companion satellite” during its second mission in November 2022, coming within 330 feet (100 m) of the smaller spacecraft and potentially even . capture it and re-edit it.
This can support a existing theory that Shenlong’s primary purpose is to “conduct rendezvous and proximity operations” with other spacecraft, and that its payloads can be targets so it can practice flyby maneuvers in orbit.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 29 to correct a typo. A previous version of the article abbreviated the People’s Republic of China as “PCR” rather than “PRC”. This has been fixed.
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