China's top-secret spaceplane can't hide in low-Earth orbit

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A winged Chinese spacecraft bearing a strong resemblance to the US military’s X-37B spaceplane was photographed in orbit by a passing US-owned commercial satellite in 2024, and we finally have the image. The Chinese spaceplane has delta wings, payload bay doors, a dark heat shield, and a rear-mounted service module with power-generating solar arrays. In other words, the design of the winged ship is, to a great degree, a copy of the X-37B spaceplane flown by the US Space Force.

一架外形酷似美国军方X-37B空天飞机的中国有翼航天器在2024年被一颗路过的美国商业卫星拍下，我们终于看到了这张照片。这架中国空天飞机拥有三角翼、载荷舱门、深色隔热罩以及后置的太阳能电池阵列服务舱。换句话说，这艘有翼飞船的设计在很大程度上是美国太空军所使用的X-37B空天飞机的翻版。

The photo was taken by a commercial imaging satellite owned by a company called Vantor, known as Maxar in 2024. Vantor is one of several companies that provide reconnaissance imagery of locations around the world to the US military and US intelligence agencies. The same Earth-imaging satellites can point their telescopes at objects in space. Lower-resolution views of a Chinese spaceplane showing the vehicle’s general shape were publicly available before the DIA assessment.

这张照片是由一家名为Vantor（2024年时被称为Maxar）的公司所拥有的商业成像卫星拍摄的。Vantor是为美国军方和情报机构提供全球侦察影像的几家公司之一。同样的地球成像卫星也可以将其望远镜对准太空中的物体。在国防情报局（DIA）发布评估报告之前，展示该航天器大致外形的低分辨率图像就已经公开了。

A US Space Force official revealed Maxar’s observation at a 2024 conference in South Korea, but the Pentagon did not release the full-resolution image to the public until Monday, when it appeared in an unclassified Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of threats to the United States in space.

一位美国太空军官员在2024年韩国举行的一次会议上披露了Maxar的观测结果，但五角大楼直到周一才向公众发布了全分辨率图像，该图像出现在国防情报局一份关于美国太空威胁的非机密评估报告中。

The DIA report doesn’t reveal much new about what the Chinese spaceplane does in orbit. China has launched four spaceplane missions since 2020 with durations of up to nine months. The fourth mission is in orbit today after launching in February. It is not publicly known whether China has one or more such spaceplanes in its inventory.

DIA的报告对于中国空天飞机在轨道上的具体任务并没有透露太多新信息。自2020年以来，中国已经执行了四次空天飞机任务，单次任务时长最长可达九个月。第四次任务于今年2月发射，目前仍在轨道上运行。目前尚不清楚中国库存中究竟有一架还是多架此类空天飞机。

The Space Force has two X-37Bs flying in rotation, with the longest of their eight missions to date running two-and-a-half years from launch until landing. US officials have released photos of the X-37B vehicles, published information about their design and dimensions, and disclosed a handful of experiments they have carried into orbit. Most of the X-37B’s activities in space are classified.

美国太空军有两架X-37B轮流执行任务，其迄今为止八次任务中最长的一次从发射到降落持续了两年半。美国官员曾发布过X-37B的照片，公布了其设计和尺寸信息，并披露了少量其携带进入轨道的实验。X-37B在太空中的大部分活动仍处于保密状态。

Like the X-37B, China’s spaceplane lifts off inside the payload shroud of a conventional rocket, then operates as a satellite once in orbit. The spaceplane flies like a miniature unpiloted version of NASA’s Space Shuttle and reenters the atmosphere for an autonomous land runway landing at the end of each mission. Ground teams then refurbish it for another flight.

与X-37B一样，中国的空天飞机在传统火箭的整流罩内发射升空，进入轨道后作为卫星运行。该空天飞机的飞行方式类似于NASA航天飞机的微型无人版本，在每次任务结束时重新进入大气层，并在跑道上自动着陆。随后，地面团队会对其进行翻新，以备下一次飞行。

The “enhanced maneuverability” of spaceplanes make them “more suitable for certain missions than traditional satellites,” the DIA said in its report. So far, the Chinese spaceplane has only flown in low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of a few hundred miles. One of the Space Force’s X-37B flights soared to an altitude of more than 24,000 miles before using aerobraking to set up for reentry and landing.

DIA在报告中指出，空天飞机“增强的机动性”使其“比传统卫星更适合执行某些任务”。到目前为止，中国的空天飞机仅在几百英里高度的近地轨道（LEO）上飞行。而美国太空军的一次X-37B飞行曾达到超过24,000英里的高度，随后利用气动制动为重返大气层和着陆做准备。

Spaceplanes like China’s and the X-37B can also deploy small satellites from their cargo bay. Most recently, China demonstrated an ability to catch an object in orbit, perhaps using a robotic arm. The vehicle now in space released a sub-satellite in June and recaptured it in July, then did the same thing again in August and September, according to an analysis of open source orbital tracking data by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who catalogs spaceflight activity.

像中国和X-37B这样的空天飞机还可以从货舱中部署小型卫星。最近，中国展示了在轨道上捕获物体的能力，可能使用了机械臂。根据天体物理学家乔纳森·麦克道威尔（Jonathan McDowell）对开源轨道跟踪数据的分析，目前在轨的飞行器在6月释放了一颗子卫星，并在7月将其重新捕获，随后在8月和9月又重复了同样的操作。

The official name of the Chinese spaceplane is even a mystery. It is often called Shenlong in Western publications, citing reports from the 2000s about China’s development of a robotic spaceplane. Chinese state media only refer to the vehicle as Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi, or CSSHQ, which means reusable experimental spacecraft, according to a fact sheet published by the Secure World Foundation.

这架中国空天飞机的正式名称甚至还是个谜。西方出版物常将其称为“神龙”，引用的是2000年代关于中国开发机器人空天飞机的报道。据“安全世界基金会”发布的一份情况说明书显示，中国官方媒体仅将其称为“重复使用试验航天器”（Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi，简称CSSHQ）。

The DIA did not disclose the exact circumstances of Maxar’s observation of the Chinese spaceplane, such as its timing, location, or distance, but Earth observations often use cameras to view other objects in space as their orbits intersect, an emerging field known as non-Earth imaging (NEI). NEI allows commercial operators and government analysts to inspect satellites.

DIA并未披露Maxar观测中国空天飞机的具体情况，如时间、地点或距离，但地球观测卫星在轨道交汇时经常使用摄像头来观察太空中的其他物体，这一新兴领域被称为“非地球成像”（NEI）。NEI使商业运营商和政府分析师能够检查卫星。

This is especially useful for gleaning information about classified or proprietary satellite designs, extending a new avenue for international and corporate espionage to the high frontier. The capability exhibited by Maxar and other commercial companies in the NEI field is distinct from the recent actions of some military spacecraft, such as Russia’s Kosmos 2612, which deliberately maneuvered to approach a US-registered radar imaging satellite earlier this month.

这对于收集有关机密或专有卫星设计的信息特别有用，为国际和企业间谍活动开辟了通往太空的新途径。Maxar和其他商业公司在NEI领域展示的能力，与某些军用航天器近期的行动截然不同，例如本月早些时候，俄罗斯的“宇宙2612”号卫星故意机动接近一颗美国注册的雷达成像卫星。

The DIA’s assessment of space threats includes an update on China’s pursuit of anti-satellite technology, or “counterspace” weapons. The intelligence agency reported the Chinese military likely considers directed-energy weapons (DEWs) “ideal counterspace systems” because they can be used to permanently or temporarily disable a satellite.

DIA对太空威胁的评估包括了中国在反卫星技术或“反太空”武器方面进展的最新情况。该情报机构报告称，中国军方可能将定向能武器（DEW）视为“理想的反太空系统”，因为它们可以被用来永久或暂时地使卫星失效。

One potential use for lasers in space would be to dazzle a sensor on an adversary’s satellite. “China has multiple ground-based laser weapons with varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites in LEO,” the DIA said. “By the late 2020s, China may field space-based directed energy systems and higher-powered ground-based directed energy systems capable of threatening satellites in higher orbits.”

太空激光的一种潜在用途是致盲对手卫星上的传感器。DIA表示：“中国拥有多种不同功率水平的陆基激光武器，可以干扰、削弱或破坏近地轨道上的卫星。到2020年代末，中国可能会部署天基定向能系统和更高功率的陆基定向能系统，从而对更高轨道上的卫星构成威胁。”