Chinese spacecraft Shenlong launches unknown object into orbit

The United States Space Force detected a mysterious object at about 600 kilometres (370 miles) above the Earth. The Chinese spacecraft Shenlong launched it into orbit, this being its third mission, writes The South China Morning Post.

The South China Morning Post states that the Chinese autonomous secret spacecraft is on its third mission in Earth's lower orbit. During previous missions, it launched satellites into space. The object now in orbit remains unidentified.

"The unknown object was ejected from Shenlong on May 25 and detected by US Space Force space domain awareness teams. Catalogued as object 59884, it has been orbiting Earth since then at an altitude of around 600 km," the newspaper reports.

But since its release from the spacecraft, it has not performed any maneuvers, asserts Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

It may just be an inert piece of hardware, he suggests.

According to the newspaper, neither the spacecraft nor the mysterious object has emitted any new signals since the end of May.

Shenlong, which translates to "Divine Dragon," is often compared to the American military spaceplane X-37B. Very little is known about it.

It made its maiden flight in 2020, which lasted just two days. Then in August 2022, Shenlong set off on its second mission, which lasted nine months. During this mission, a subsatellite was reportedly ejected and recaptured a couple of times by the plane to test related technologies, writes the newspaper.

Little is known about the course of this third mission by Beijing, except that the spacecraft raised its orbit from about 300 kilometres (190 miles) to 600 kilometres by the end of January, where it has remained.

Chinese space authorities have not disclosed details of the latest Shenlong mission or its end date. All information was included in a brief report published by state media shortly after launch.

"It’s going to operate in orbit for a period of time before returning to its intended landing site in China," the Xinhua agency quoted the launch report as saying.

"Reusable technology verification and space science experiments will be carried out to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space," said the report, describing China's justification for the continuation of these mysterious near-Earth missions.