
China’s top-secret spaceplane can’t hide in low-Earth orbit
Summary
A commercial satellite owned by the United States successfully photographed China's classified reusable spaceplane while it was in low-Earth orbit. The newly revealed picture confirms that the secretive winged spacecraft shares several structural similarities with the American military equivalent.
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…
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