Experts have analyzed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has developed a reusable mysterious unmanned spacecraft, which is equipped with rocket boosters that ascend and land at a secretive military airfield, likely testing dual-use technology.
According to reports from Reuters, the spacecraft is on its third mission. In June, observers noticed it releasing an object, maneuvering a few kilometers away, and then returning to a range a few hundred meters from the object.
Marco Langbroek, an optics and space situational awareness lecturer at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, stated, “It is clear that this technology has military applications, such as inspecting enemy objects or disabling them.”
“But this technology can also be used for non-military purposes,” he said. “If you want to… ‘refuel’ your satellite, gaining experience in grabbing and releasing objects is very beneficial.”
Langbroek and three other experts mentioned that countries around the world are establishing complex satellite networks, so possessing a reusable spacecraft capable of intervening in these networks would hold significant strategic value.
The CCP has never disclosed the technologies tested by the spacecraft or released any photos of its operation since its launch. State media Xinhua reported the launch and landing of the spacecraft, calling it a “reusable experimental spacecraft.”
Victoria Samson, the Director of the Secure World Foundation’s Space Safety and Security Program based in Washington, D.C., stated that the Chinese spacecraft is likely testing technology.
In 2010, the United States launched the unmanned Boeing X-37B spacecraft. The Chinese spacecraft is believed to be similar in size and shape to the X-37B, which is around 30 feet long and operated for 908 days in a 23,750-mile orbit.
The Chinese spacecraft’s current mission began in December 2023. Tracking data shows that the previous mission involved deploying a single object into space and retrieving it. The second mission, launched in August 2022, lasted 276 days. The spacecraft’s maiden flight was in September 2020, lasting two days.
General Stephen Whiting, Commander of the U.S. Space Command, stated, “Any space activity they (CCP) undertake, we view as having some sort of dual-use military aspect. We are interested in understanding what that dual-use aspect is and ensuring we have a full understanding of it.”
Tracking data shows the CCP’s spacecraft launching from Jiuquan in north-central China and landing at an airfield in Lop Nur, Xinjiang.
Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics mentioned that the airfield is connected to a former nuclear test site and is strictly controlled by the military.
He stated that data indicates the spacecraft’s altitude has increased from a typical height of about 217 miles to 373 miles before returning to its original orbit.
Considering the spacecraft has been operating in space for months, it is generally believed to be unmanned. However, its launch relies on the CCP’s only crewed rocket – the Long March 2F.
Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, expressed, “We don’t want to view this (CCP) spacecraft in the way the Soviets looked at (American) spacecraft. Many of these are experiments, not carefully designed military platforms.”
For a long time, orbit weapons have been taboo. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits the use of weapons of mass destruction in space.
In 2021, the CCP test-flew a hypersonic glider, a partial realization of a concept known as the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System from the Cold War era.
Inspecting or disabling adversary satellites is another potential military capability of the CCP’s mysterious spacecraft.
However, Lewis mentioned that launching attacks from orbit with spacecraft does not provide many advantages compared to ballistic or cruise missiles.
Two senior Indian military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that while the specific purpose of the CCP spacecraft remains unclear, it has garnered attention in India.
“These kinds of things often have dual-use purposes. India is closely monitoring this,” one official stated.
Recently, Russia launched several satellites, with American officials suspecting these satellites to be weapons, though Russia denied the accusation.