A Chinese spaceplane resembling the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B has been photographed in orbit by a commercial Earth-imaging satellite owned by Vantor, also known as Maxar. The image, taken in 2024, shows a winged vehicle with a delta wing, payload-bay door, dark heat shield and aft service module with a solar array—features that closely echo the American spaceplane.
The satellite that captured the image is operated by a company that provides reconnaissance imagery to the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. Although designed to observe locations on Earth, its telescope can also be directed at objects in space.
Lower-resolution images showing the Chinese spacecraft’s general shape had been released before the Defense Intelligence Agency published its assessment. U.S. Space Force officials discussed Maxar’s observations at a 2024 conference in South Korea, but the Pentagon did not release the full-resolution images publicly until Monday, when they appeared in an unclassified DIA evaluation titled Challenges to Security in Space 2026.
Catch and release
The DIA report adds little new information about the activities of China’s spaceplanes in orbit. China has launched four spaceplane missions since 2020, with missions lasting as long as nine months. The fourth launched in February and remains in orbit. It is not publicly known whether China has one or more vehicles of this type.
The Space Force operates two X-37Bs in rotation. The longest of the vehicle’s eight previous missions lasted two and a half years, from launch to landing. U.S. authorities have released photographs of the X-37B airframe, along with information about its design and dimensions and details of several experiments conducted in orbit. Most of the spaceplane’s activities remain classified.
Like the X-37B, the Chinese spaceplane launches inside the payload shroud of a conventional rocket and operates as a satellite while in orbit. At the end of a mission, it re-enters the atmosphere and lands autonomously on a runway, resembling a smaller version of NASA’s space shuttle. Ground teams can then refurbish it for another flight.
The DIA said the spaceplane’s “enhanced maneuverability” makes it “more suitable for certain missions than traditional satellites.” So far, Chinese spaceplanes have operated only in low Earth orbit (LEO), at altitudes of several hundred miles. One X-37B mission previously reached more than 34,000 miles. The U.S. military spaceplane can prepare for reentry and landing using aerobrakes.
Source: www.wired.com
