China’s mysterious Shenlong robotic spaceplane has apparently launched six unidentified objects into orbit, four days after the launch of its third mission. Some appear to emit signals.

China’s reusable spaceplane has become even more mysterious. China’s Shenlong (“Divine Dragon”) robotic spacecraft appears to have launched six objects into Earth orbit just four days after launching its third mission. Spacecraft enthusiasts around the world have been keeping a close eye on the objects for several days and have recorded emissions from some of them.

The six mysterious objects were named OBJECTS A, B, C, D, E and F. According to satellite tracker and amateur astronomer Scott Tilley, OBJECT A emits signals similar to those emitted by objects launched by Chinese spaceplanes. previous missions.

“Emissions from OBJECT A or the closest one are similar to emissions from previous Chinese ‘flapper’ spacecraft in that the signal is modulated by a limited amount of data,” Tilley told Space.com via email. “There is a suggestion that the radiation from OBJECT A may be coming from an object located nearby, but this is a suggestion that is not supported by any evidence that I know of.” Tilley called the objects “mysterious hosts” on X (formerly Twitter).

OBJECT D and E, meanwhile, appear to emit “placeholder” signals that are inactive without accompanying data. “It is worth noting that, unlike the emissions at the beginning of the Chinese Spacecraft 1 and 2 missions, these emissions were very intermittent and did not persist for long periods of time,” says Tilley. “To obtain this data, it took many days of observations, followed corridor by corridor with satellite dishes.”

Tilley and other satellite trackers analyzed the signals and are confident that the radiation is coming from or near the objects. This conclusion is based on observing them along their expected path across the sky, on the fact that no other known objects were in the beam of the tracker antennas when the data were collected, and on the fact that the specific modulation of these signals is “unique”. . and has only been seen in previous missions by Chinese spaceplanes. [частоту] 2280 MHz,” says Tilley.

“In summary, this iteration of the Chinese spacecraft’s orbital launch mission is similar to the previous two, but exhibits radio communications behavior that is operationally different from its predecessor. The additional emission observations from OBJECT D and E are new, but may also have been missed by the previous missions if they were intermittent ” added Tilley. “What we should be watching for are close collisions between OBJECT A and OBJECTS D and E. D and E are in highly elliptical orbits, while A is in a nearly circular orbit. There will be close approaches between these objects at perigee in the next few days.”

Perigee is the closest point to Earth in a satellite’s elliptical orbit.

A Chinese spaceplane has demonstrated similar behavior in the past. During two previous missions launched in September 2020 and August 2022, respectively, the spacecraft launched a small unidentified object into orbit. It is speculated that these objects could be service modules, test articles for placing payloads into orbit, or even small satellites used to track spacecraft, SpaceNews wrote in November 2022.

The United States also operates the X-37B reusable robotic spaceplane manufactured by Boeing. Like China’s Shenlong spaceplane, little is known about the exact operations or capabilities of the X-37B. The US Space Force is currently preparing to launch the spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on December 28 after several delays.

And the timing of the two launches of reusable spaceplanes is not coincidental. “These are the two most viewed objects in orbit while in orbit. “It’s probably not a coincidence that they’re trying to match us in terms of timing and sequencing,” Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of the U.S. Space Force’s space operations division, said at a conference earlier this month.