“China’s Mysterious Space Plane Flies Over Europe.” According to Chinese media citing the American space news website “Space.com,” an Austrian astrophotographer recently announced that he had captured images of the “Chinese Reusable Experimental Spacecraft.” The website noted that this is the mysterious spacecraft China launched in December of last year, also referred to by some foreign media as the “Shenlong” space plane.
The photographer who captured this image is named Felix Schöfbänker, a veteran astronomy observer from Upper Austria in northern Austria. Schöfbänker said he used a 14-inch telescope and various equipment to track satellites and captured the image of the “Chinese space plane” on the morning of July 30, local time.
He told “Space.com,” “I shot a video as the plane passed overhead, then stacked and sharpened the best frames to create these images.”
Schöfbänker estimated that the “Shenlong space plane” is approximately 10 meters in length, slightly longer than the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B orbital test vehicle. He stated that the photos show “unknown features” at the rear of the space plane, speculating that these could be a pair of solar panels providing power to the spacecraft, “but I can’t be sure if they are solar panels or other devices like antennas.”
Additionally, Schöfbänker pointed out that the “Chinese space plane” seems to be flying with its nose pointed forward. Based on available information, the spacecraft recently lowered its orbit to about 350 kilometers above Earth.
The American magazine “Popular Science” reported that China’s space plane is not the only experimental spacecraft conducting “classified missions” in Earth’s orbit. The U.S. Space Force’s X-37B orbital test vehicle, launched on December 28 of last year from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is currently conducting its seventh orbital flight mission.
The “Shenlong space plane” mentioned by foreign media refers to the reusable experimental spacecraft China launched last year. Due to the limited information available and the lack of public photos, “Popular Science” and some Western media have described it as “China’s super-mysterious space plane.”
According to Xinhua News Agency, on December 14, 2023, China successfully launched a reusable experimental spacecraft using a Long March 2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. After a period of on-orbit operation, the spacecraft will return to a designated landing site in China, during which time it will carry out planned reusable technology verification and space science experiments, providing technical support for the peaceful use of space.
This type of spacecraft has already completed two flight missions. On September 4, 2020, China launched its first reusable experimental spacecraft, which successfully returned to the designated landing site after two days of flight. On August 5, 2022, China launched the reusable experimental spacecraft again, which successfully returned to the designated landing site on May 8, 2023, after 276 days in orbit. Xinhua News Agency noted at the time that the successful completion of this test marked a significant breakthrough in China’s research on reusable spacecraft technology, which will subsequently offer more convenient and cost-effective means for the peaceful use of space.