The Chinese robotic space plane "Shenlong", on its third mission, added more excitement to its space activities four days after its arrival in Earth's orbit.
Very little is known about the plane and its cargo. Shenlong (which means divine dragon) was launched on its third mission from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on December 14, and deployed at least six mysterious objects into orbit soon after.
China publishes the first images of the complete Tiangong space station.
China has not revealed any details about the experimental reusable spacecraft project, and not a single photo of the launch has been published.
The mysterious spaceplane appears to closely resemble the US Space Force's X-37B low orbital test vehicle, however, not much is known about its specifications.
The spacecraft is launched on a conventional space launch rocket and propelled into orbit using a secondary booster. It returns to Earth in unpowered mode, just like the X-37B.
The first spaceplane mission was launched in 2020, and the second in 2022. Shenlong launched similar unknown objects into orbit. And no one knows why.
Although not much information is available about the missions, they may have involved deploying satellites into orbit while participating in scientific experiments.
Chinese data revealed that the spacecraft also performed many small and much larger orbital maneuvers during its second flight.
The existence of these objects has been confirmed by amateur spacecraft trackers and enthusiastic astronomers.
Space enthusiast Scott Tilley said the scattered objects were sending mysterious signals.
The emitted signals, which observers have named OBJECT A, B, C, D, E and F, are similar to those launched by Shenlong on its previous mission in November last year.
Extensive analysis of the signals by many satellite trackers indicates that the transmissions are coming either from the objects or from something else very close to them.
The transmissions are also linked to the expected paths of different objects, and are also consistent with the types of signals previously sent by Chinese space plane missions, with the same unique frequency.
Some experts say they may be sending signals to each other, and that more interesting transmissions are yet to come.
It is noteworthy that the apparent American counterpart to “Shenlong,” the X-37B, was scheduled to be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on December 7 at the Kennedy Space Station in Florida.
However, the mission has been repeatedly postponed, and December 28 has been set as the date for the next planned launch.
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