The US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a photograph of China’s reusable spaceplane on Monday, showing an open payload bay and, according to imagery provider Vantor, a docked satellite.
Vantor’s WorldView-3 satellite captured the image on May 28, 2024, from just under 90 kilometres away. The company operated as Maxar Technologies when the photograph was taken.
Explaining the image to The War Zone, Vantor identified a separate satellite attached to the spaceplane’s rear. It attributed the visible solar arrays to that satellite. “The spacecraft’s payload bay doors are visibly open,” the company added.
The photograph appears on page 53 of the DIA’s 130-page assessment, “Challenges to Security in Space”. Its publication provides a clearer view of the winged vehicle than earlier publicly circulated versions.
However, the report’s caption identifies a Chinese spaceplane without naming the specific design. The vehicle is widely associated with Shenlong, meaning Divine Dragon, but the caption does not establish that identification. Its shape resembles the US Space Force’s X-37B, another reusable spacecraft whose missions are largely classified.
A lower-resolution image of the Chinese vehicle had appeared in a US Space Force presentation in South Korea in 2024. This week’s release therefore concerns a sharper photograph, rather than the first public indication that it had been photographed.
China launched its latest reusable experimental spacecraft mission on February 7 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre aboard a Long March-2F rocket.
State news agency Xinhua described the mission as testing reusable-spacecraft technology to support peaceful uses of space. It did not disclose a flight duration.
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China’s programme began orbital flights in September 2020. Like the X-37B, the vehicle can remain in orbit for extended missions before returning to a runway for reuse.
Observers have also tracked objects released during its flights. Their purposes remain uncertain, and neither the photograph nor the visible open payload bay establishes that the spacecraft carries weapons.
(With additional input from Ars Technica)
