China’s Shenlong spaceplane recently completed its third orbital mission since 2020, and it is having some people quite concerned.
It launches on top of a Long March 2F rocket booster, and while it is believed that the spaceplane is currently unmanned, it does have the ability to have people onboard if the communist country chooses to.
The United States and its allies have been tracking these launches, trying to learn more about exactly what China is doing with them.
China, of course, claims that the launches and the spaceplane itself are strictly for scientific usage, but that is unlikely.
This spaceplane was observed releasing an object, then traveling a distance away, and then coming back to the original location.
They have done this more than once so far. It is likely that the official explanation for this type of thing would be to collect their satellites in order to refuel them, perform maintenance, or any number of other things.
According to Marco Langbroek, a space situational lecturer at the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology:
“It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them. But it also has non-military applications. Gaining experience with this kind of grab and release is good if you want to for instance… refuel your own satellites.”
The operations it is completing are not unlike the US’s X-37B spacecraft, which was made by Boeing.
So far this spacecraft has had seven launches and performed some similar maneuvers to the Shenlong craft.
America and its allies will certainly have to keep a close eye on this craft to ensure it does not become a threat.
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