What to Know About China’s Top-Secret Spaceplane

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What to Know About China’s Top-Secret Spaceplane

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.

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轨道照片，我们终于看到了这张图像。

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.

这架中国空天飞机拥有三角翼、载荷舱门、深色隔热罩以及带有发电太阳能电池阵列的后置服务舱。换句话说，这架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.

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各地侦察图像的几家公司之一。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。

Lower-resolution views of a Chinese spaceplane showing the vehicle’s general shape were publicly available before the Defense Intelligence Agency assessment. 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 DIA assessment of threats to the United States in space.

在国防情报局（DIA）进行评估之前，展示该飞行器大致外形的低分辨率中国空天飞机图像就已经公开。一位美国太空军官员在2024年韩国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全分辨率图像，当时该图像出现在一份关于美国太空威胁的非机密DIA评估报告中。

Catch and Release

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的报告并未透露关于中国空天飞机在轨道上具体任务的太多新信息。自2020年以来，中国已经发射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2月发射，目前仍在轨道上运行。目前尚不清楚中国库存中是否拥有一架或多架此类空天飞机。

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轮流飞行，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飞行器的照片，公布了其设计和尺寸信息，并披露了它们带入轨道进行的一小部分实验。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。该空天飞机飞行起来就像是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，并在跑道上进行自主着陆。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 makes 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）上飞行过。而美国太空军的一次X-37B飞行曾攀升至超过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.

像中国空天飞机和X-37B这样的飞行器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、航天活动编目专家乔纳森·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。

A Fleeting Glance

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.

中国空天飞机的正式名称甚至是一个谜。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”（Secure World Foundation）发布的情况说明书显示，中国官方媒体仅将该飞行器称为“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).

DIA并未披露Maxar观测中国空天飞机的具体情况，例如时间、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 allows commercial operators and government analysts to inspect satellites. 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.

NEI使商业运营商和政府分析师能够检查卫星。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前沿的新途径。

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. Commercial NEI observations come from chance encounters, often at extremely high speed.

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，例如俄罗斯的“宇宙2612”（Kosmos 2612）卫星在本月初故意机动以接近一颗美国注册的雷达成像卫星。商业NEI观测源于偶然的相遇，且通常是在极高速度下进行的。

Pew-Pew With DEWs

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. One potential use for lasers in space would be to dazzle a sensor on an adversary’s 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（DEWs）视为“理想的反太空系统”，因为它们可用于永久或暂时地使卫星失效。激光在太空中的一种潜在用途是致盲对手卫星上的传感器。

“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.”

DIA表示：“中国拥有多种不同功率水平的陆基激光武器，可用于干扰、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，从而能够威胁到更高轨道上的卫星。”

The DIA noted China’s testing of ground-based anti-satellite missiles and the country’s historic demonstration last year of satellite refueling in geosynchronous orbit, a regime some 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) over the equator, something no other country has achieved above LEO. China has also tested a robotic arm that could snag a spacecraft out of orbit, and now operates a growing fleet of satellites called TJS that routinely approach foreign spacecraft.

DIA提到了中国对陆基反卫星导弹的测试，以及去年中国在地球同步轨道（赤道上方约22,000英里/36,000公里处）进行的卫星加注历史性演示，这是其他国家在近地轨道之外尚未实现的技术。中国还测试了一种可以将航天器从轨道上抓取的机械臂，目前正运营着一支名为TJS的卫星编队，这些卫星经常接近外国航天器。

The US Space Force also has a constellation of inspector satellites in geosynchronous orbit and recently procured more that could be refueled, ov

美国太空军在地球同步轨道上也拥有一组监视卫星，并于近期采购了更多可进行燃料补给的卫星，ov