China’s third test mission of a reusable robotic spacecraft continues to generate speculation, sending half a dozen small objects into orbit that intrigued amateur observers have tentatively called “wings.” The experimental orbiter, called Shenlong (Chinese for “divine dragon”), was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Thursday, December 14, on a Long March 2F rocket, and then fell into a low orbit similar to that of previous test missions in September. 2020 and August 2022
Unidentified objects have also been tracked in the spacecraft’s keelboat bed during these missions, Andrew Jones speculated, consisting of “inspector satellites” designed to keep tabs on the test vehicle, potentially to assist in its safe return to the surface. Judging by their radio emissions, these objects were probably small Chinese Banxing satellites, which were previously used to transmit images to other spacecraft.
Four days after the last launch, Shenlong deployed six of its own facilities, dubbed by the satellite tracking community as OBJECT A-F. Amateur astronomer Scott Tilley called the objects on X “mysterious hosts.. As he explained to Brett Tingley, the emissions from each device are a mixture of signals, and only a few carry a small amount of information.
“The radiation from OBJECT A or near it resembles previous Chinese spacecraft ‘wing’ radiation in the sense that the signal is modulated by a limited amount of data,” Tilly Tingley said in an email.
On the contrary, OBJECT D and OBJECT E presented signals without any data, their emissions seem to act as placeholders. Unlike previous missions, the signals are intermittent, meaning that ground observers had to work together for several days to gather enough details. While satellite trackers may have missed signals in previous missions if they were also brief glimpses, Tilley is confident that there is something a little different about this mission.
“What we have to watch for are close encounters between Object A and Objects D and E. D and E are in fairly elliptical orbits, while A is in an almost circular orbit,” he told Tingley.
While amateur astronomers from all over the world share their theories about what China’s mysterious spaceplane might be up to, the United States is undoubtedly watching in silence, guided by its own interests. The Boeing X-37B experimental reusable spaceplane has a lot in common with China’s Shenlong, not least its secrecy in development.
At this stage, few details are available on its purpose or capabilities, having started as a NASA X-37 project at the end of the last century before becoming a U.S. Department of Defense project in 2004.
With another X-37B test flight scheduled for December 28, there is no doubt that the world’s two largest space powers are paying close attention to each other’s new toys while keeping their own well guarded, leaving the rest of the world guessing. to what is happening overhead.
