A winged Chinese spacecraft resembling the US military’s X-37B spaceplane was photographed in low-Earth orbit by a passing US-owned commercial satellite in 2024, and the image has finally been made public.
Imaging the Chinese Spacecraft
The Chinese spaceplane features delta wings, payload bay doors, a dark heat shield, and a rear-mounted service module equipped with power-generating solar arrays. The design closely mirrors the X-37B spaceplane operated by the US Space Force.
According to Ars Technica, the photograph was captured by a commercial imaging satellite belonging to Vantor, which was known as Maxar in 2024. Vantor supplies reconnaissance imagery globally to the US military and intelligence agencies, and its Earth-imaging satellites possess the capability to point their telescopes toward objects in space.
While lower-resolution views of the spaceplane’s general shape had been publicly accessible prior to the assessment, a US Space Force official disclosed Maxar’s observation during a 2024 conference in South Korea. The full-resolution image was officially released by the Pentagon in an unclassified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment detailing threats to the United States in space.
Mission Details and Comparison
The DIA report provides limited new information regarding the specific functions of the Chinese spaceplane in orbit. China has launched four spaceplane missions starting in 2020, lasting up to nine months each, with its fourth mission currently in orbit after launching in February. Public records do not clarify whether China operates a single spaceplane or multiple units in its inventory.
By comparison, the US Space Force operates two X-37Bs in rotation. Their longest mission out of eight to date spanned two and a half years from launch to landing. Although US officials have released photographs, design specifications, dimensions, and details on select experiments carried by the X-37B, the majority of its activities in space remain classified.
