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Earlier this month, China launched an experimental spaceplane into low Earth orbit.
The reusable craft, which was sent into space at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on December 14, ended up having some unexpected company: six UFOs.
“The test spacecraft will operate in orbit for a period of time and then return to a scheduled landing site in China,” Xinhua reported.
“During this period, reusable technology verification and space science experiments will be carried out as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space.”
What Xinhua didn’t report, however, was that following the launch of the Shenlong (“Divine Dragon”) robotic space plane, six UFOs (referred to as OBJECTS A-F by astronomer and satellite tracker Scott Tilley in a followup report) appeared out of nowhere trailing the craft and they were all emitting signals on repeat.
We have confirmation of S-band signals from the 3rd Chinese 'spaceplane' mission.
However, this time the 'mysterious wingman' emitter is only sending signals intermittently but it is fading deeply like earlier missions. 🧵⬇️ pic.twitter.com/lD2YtQYaFw
— Scott Tilley 🇺🇦 (@coastal8049) December 17, 2023
“OBJECT A’s or nearby emission is reminiscent of earlier Chinese space plane ‘wingman’ emissions in the sense the signal is modulated with a limited amount of data,” Tilley told Space.com via email. “There is speculation that the emission from OBJECT A may be from an object close to it, but this is speculation not based on any evidence I’m aware of.”
OBJECT A [58573, 2023-195A] appears to be the 'mysterious wingman' emitter. This leads me to the conclusion OBJECT-B is likely the 'spaceplane'. I'll explain later why I feel this way. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/D9Gi0BThLC
— Scott Tilley 🇺🇦 (@coastal8049) December 17, 2023
“Something we should watch for is close encounters between OBJECT A and OBJECTs D and E. D and E are in fairly elliptical orbits while A is in a near circular orbit,” said Tilley.
As you can see in this old thread from the 1st 'spaceplane' mission the signal seen from the 3rd mission's 'wingman' is very similar. The plot below is from OBJECT B [58574, 2023-195B] today. ⬇️ https://t.co/KvHsAfiafH pic.twitter.com/ZNnPPF1CLB
— Scott Tilley 🇺🇦 (@coastal8049) December 17, 2023
Daniel Estevez, a consultant/contractor in spacecraft communications, digital signal processing, and SDR with a PhD in Mathematics and a BSc in Computer Science, analyzed the signals being emitted by these UFOs.
“I have no clue what we’re looking at here,” he wrote on his website after studying the signals.
“One thing is clear: the signal doesn’t have much data in it, as most of the bits show the same repeating pattern,” he added.
For what it’s worth, the United States also utilizes a reusable robotic space plane.
“These are two of the most watched objects on orbit while they’re on orbit. It’s probably no coincidence that they’re trying to match us in timing and sequence of this,” General Chance Saltzman, U.S. Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations, said earlier this month.