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DIA releases commercial photo of China’s reusable spaceplane in orbit
The Pentagon on Monday released a commercial satellite photo of China’s reusable spaceplane in a Defense Intelligence Agency space-threat assessment, Ars Technica reported.
The Pentagon on Monday published a previously unreleased commercial satellite photograph of China’s reusable spaceplane in an unclassified Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of space threats, Ars Technica reported1.
Ars said the image was taken in 2024 by a satellite owned by Vantor, then known as Maxar, and that a U.S. Space Force official had described the observation at a 2024 conference in South Korea without releasing the full-resolution picture until the DIA report1. The outlet said the winged vehicle has delta wings, payload-bay doors, a dark heat shield and a rear-mounted service module with solar arrays, and that it closely resembles the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B1.
The DIA report did not add much public detail on what the Chinese vehicle does on orbit, Ars said1. China has launched four spaceplane missions since 2020, with flights lasting up to nine months, and a fourth mission launched in February is still in space; it is not publicly known how many such vehicles China operates1. The spacecraft launches under a rocket shroud, operates as a satellite, then returns for an uncrewed runway landing, according to Ars1.
Western coverage often calls the vehicle Shenlong; Chinese state media use a term that translates as reusable experimental spacecraft, Ars said, citing a Secure World Foundation fact sheet1. So far the vehicle has flown only in low Earth orbit, while one X-37B mission reached more than 24,000 miles altitude1.
Spaceplanes can deploy small satellites from a cargo bay, Ars said1. Citing analysis of open-source orbital tracking by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, the outlet reported that the vehicle now in orbit released a sub-satellite in June and recaptured it in July, then repeated the sequence in August and September1.
The same DIA assessment said the Chinese military likely views directed-energy weapons as useful counterspace systems and that China has multiple ground-based lasers that can disrupt, degrade or damage satellites in low Earth orbit1. The agency said China may field space-based directed-energy systems and more powerful ground lasers by the late 2020s, according to Ars1. The report also noted Chinese anti-satellite missile tests, a 2025 demonstration of satellite refueling in geosynchronous orbit, robotic-arm tests and TJS satellites that approach foreign spacecraft1.
Ars noted that Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said last month the Pentagon has fielded weapons in space, and that U.S. officials have described Russian orbital weapons work, including a conventional satellite-to-satellite projectile system1. Those U.S. and Russian claims sit outside the newly released photograph of the Chinese spaceplane1.
