China’s secret space plane dropped something else into orbit.
Nobody knows what it is.
The vehicle, code-named Shenlong or “Divine Dragon,” has now released at least nine unconfirmed payloads since 2022. We have no idea what they do. The space sector keeps quiet, offering no design specs or mission parameters. It remains a black box floating in low Earth orbit (LEO ).
Launched vertically on rockets. Lands horizontally on a runway. Sounds like NASA’s Shuttle program? It does. But unlike the Shuttle, Shenlong operates in total shadows. No exterior photos exist. We don’t even know its exact size.
It first flew in September 2020. A quick two-day trip. Then things got weird. Between August 2022 and August 2024? The craft lingered for months on end, dropping objects like a piñata pulled tight by gravity. One payload after launch two. Seven more after launch three, six ejected at the same time.
Now, the fourth mission.
Started February 7. Lifted from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Long March 2F did the heavy lifting in the Gobi Desert. Then, radio silence. Until now.
On June 22, LeoLabs detected it.
A blip on the radar. Initially picked up by their New Zealand sensors. It didn’t match anything in their database. An anomaly.
By evening, LeoLabs was sure. High confidence. The object came from Shenlong. They cataloged it.
Jonathan McDowell confirmed the origin the next day. He’s an astronomer at Durham University, previously with Harvard. He says the U.S. Space Force is tracking the new debris.
What is it?
“It could be a cubesat,” McDowell suggests.
Small. Box-like. Usually secondary payloads riding along on bigger missions. But why drop nine of them into the void if not for a reason?
Theories run wild. Some say rendezvous and proximity operations. Basically, the Dragon is practicing its dance moves in orbit, using these blobs as target dummies for flyby maneuvers.
Others are darker.
Gizmodo mentions anti-satellite weapons or covert surveillance. Spooks in suits whispering about kinetic strikes. Has anything been sabotaged yet? No reports. But the tension remains.
Shenlog has spent nearly 700 days up there.
Amateurs with powerful lenses caught glimpses. Blurry reflections. One photo from August 2024 showed a bright appendage sticking out. Likely a solar array. Sunlight powers everything eventually, right?
It’s not just China playing in the sandbox.
The U.S. has the X-37B. Two operational models. Over 4,200 combined days in orbit since 2010.
The difference?
America tells you what the X-37 is doing. Mostly. They release parameters. They talk goals.
China says nothing.
So we watch. And wait for the next drop. 🌑
