The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has confirmed that an image that has been circulating online for years does indeed show a reusable Chinese experimental spaceplane in orbit. A newly released copy of the higher resolution image highlights that the design is almost a dead ringer for the miniature X-37B space shuttles now operated by the US Space Force.
The DIA included the higher-resolution image of the Chinese spaceplane in a new unclassified report on global security challenges outside Earth’s atmosphere, released yesterday. A satellite owned by Maxar Technologies (now Vantor) captured the image, but the exact date remains unclear. It has a copyright date of 2024.
The image shows a miniature space shuttle-like design with small wings and twin vertical tails. It also features upward-opening doors above a central cargo hold. There is also a tail extension with solar panels deployed on either side. There are what appear to be side-by-side ventral bays, which are likely for the main gear in a tricycle landing gear configuration. Overall, the basic design is extremely similar to that of the US X-37B, which also features tricycle landing gear and can also be fitted with a tail extended payload module. A major difference is that the wings of the Chinese model have a much longer chord than those of the X-37B.
“Spaceplanes like this PRC (People’s Republic of China) spaceplane captured by Maxar are a key capability for reusable space activities. Spaceplanes can launch into orbit to place objects in space or even test them and return to earth (sic),” reads the image caption in the DIA report.
As we have indicated, the basic fact of the existence of this image is not new. U.S. Space Force Col. John Patrick, then head of U.S. Space Forces Korea (SPACEFOR-KOR), included a much lower resolution version in a presentation at the Open Space Forum in South Korea in 2024. It was also not immediately clear at the time whether or not the image simply showed an X-37B. TWZ contacted the US Space Force and Maxar at the time for more information, and both declined to comment. Two X-37Bs have been built and have been sent on a total of eight orbital missions since 2010. The Orbital Test Vehicle 8 (OTV-8) mission was launched on August 22, 2025.
China has reportedly conducted four separate orbital space missions using the same experimental vehicle since 2020. Three of these missions were completed before Colonel Patrick made his presentation. The most recent launch was on February 7 of this year and the vehicle is yet to return, at least as far as we know.
During the third mission, which lasted from December 14, 2023 to September 6, 2024, the Chinese spaceplane was observed launching several smaller objects into orbit. The nature of these payloads remains unknown, but they may have been released from the main payload bay, which is seen open in the on-orbit image. The bay could also have opened without any subsequent release of objects during the previous two missions.
Incidentally, the spaceplane appears to have dropped at least one additional object earlier this year during its latest mission.
A secret air base in the northwest tip of China, boasting one of the world’s longest landing strips (16,400 feet), appears to be where the space plane landed after its missions. The facility, which has been significantly expanded in recent years, now vaguely resembles America’s top-secret Area 51 testing ground, and has been the site of other advanced aeronautical testing efforts.
The DIA report also states that “China has two main spaceplane models: the Shenlong and the Tengyun,” but does not specify which one is visible in the image. The name Shenlong has been commonly used to refer to the space plane that China has been experimenting with so far. Images showing a prototype or test article of this design suspended under an H-6 bomber for testing had emerged in 2007.
State-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) unveiled the Tengyun model in 2016 as part of a so-called two-stage orbiter system that uses a mother plane flying in the atmosphere as part of the launch method rather than a traditional space launch rocket. In 2020, CASIC was aiming for an actual test of Tengyun in 2025, but it is not immediately clear whether or not this happened.
Other spaceplane developments have taken place in China in recent years. This includes designs from Chengdu, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). The Chengdu model is called Haolong and is officially under development as an option for resupplying the country’s Tiangong space station.
In general, “spaceplanes are… reusable and offer improved maneuverability, making them more suitable for certain missions than traditional satellites,” the DIA report notes.
TWZ has highlighted in the past how reusable space shuttle-style vehicles provide ideal platforms for rapidly deploying small satellites and other payloads into orbit. In this way, they can constitute essential assets for space experiments as well as operational activities. This could include intelligence gathering or even attacks in orbit, areas of obvious interest to the Chinese government.
As we often mention about the X-37B, spaceplanes also have clear advantages when it comes to encountering and maneuvering very close to other objects in space. They can execute course changes and other maneuvers in a way that traditional satellites cannot. All of this only highlights their potential as weapon systems, as well as for intelligence gathering. The fact that a Maxar (now Vantor) satellite took a photo in orbit – a service the company is known for offering – of a Chinese spaceplane further highlights the type of cat-and-mouse games that are increasingly emerging in space. The general risks posed by this type of activity were recently highlighted by the observation of an unprecedented proximity of a commercial radar imaging satellite linked to Ukraine to another satellite belonging to Russia.
In recent years, China has made massive investments, generally, in new space intelligence and other capabilities. Chinese space developments have now also extended to reusable space launch rocket boosters. Space launch company LandSpace became the first in China to successfully recover a reusable space launch rocket booster to earth in August. This followed CASC’s successful recovery of a sea-reusable space launch rocket booster using a specially configured vessel the previous month.
First landing of ZhuQue-3
In general, “access to space has traditionally required expendable spacecraft: single-use launch vehicles, single-use satellites and capsules designed to maximize performance. The reliance on expendable vehicles has made access to space costly and exclusive,” the DIA report explains. “Reusable technologies, while more difficult and expensive to develop and build, could significantly reduce the cost of spaceflight by recovering, refurbishing and reusing rocket stages, fairings and capsules. »
Chinese spaceplanes, one of which we have yet to see in orbit, appear set to become an increasingly important part of this growing ecosystem.
Updated: 6:32 p.m. ET –
Vantor has now provided an additional copy of the image of the Chinese space plane and some additional details. The company confirmed that it was taken on May 28, 2024 by the WorldView-3 satellite at a range of just under 90 kilometers.
“There is a separate satellite docked at the rear of the vehicle whose structure and solar panels are visible,” Vantor also told us. “The spaceship’s cargo doors are visibly open.”
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
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