The mysterious Chinese spaceplane has been captured in new imagery by an amateur astrophotographer.
A mysterious Chinese space vehicle was captured on the morning of July 30th, 2024. Felix Schöfbänker took the image and posted it on AstroBin, an image-hosting platform and social network for amateur astronomers and astrophotographers.
The satellite watcher documented the trajectory of the moving space vehicle and spotted some machinery, including solar panels.
Schöfbänker told Space.com that the two solar panels at the end aren't visible on any of the computer renderings available online.
Mysterious Chinese spaceplane
China's space plane, now circling Earth on its third flight, was lobbed into orbit on December 14th, 2023.
In June, a Chinese spacecraft with potential military and non-military applications was observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away, and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it.
The previous mission, which also involved placing and retrieving a separate object in space, was launched in August 2022 and lasted 276 days, according to tracking data. Its first flight, in September 2020, lasted two days.
Tracking data indicates that the spaceplane launches from Jiuquan in North Central China and lands at an airfield in Lop Nur, Xinjiang. This airfield is associated with a former nuclear testing site and is under strict military control, according to Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The data also shows that the spaceplane adjusts its altitude, transitioning between common orbits of approximately 350km (217 miles) and 600km. It is believed to be roughly similar in size and shape to the X-37B, which measures about 30 feet (9.14 m) long and has orbited for up to 908 days at altitudes reaching 38,000 km.
Given its extended duration in space, the Chinese spaceplane is likely uncrewed, despite being launched atop China's only human-rated rocket, the Long March 2F.
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