A photograph newly made public shows what looks like a satellite attached to China’s top-secret Shenlong spaceplane in orbit. The craft has two narrow wings; two large solar arrays extend from the object that appears to be docked to it.
According to Ars Technica, a satellite operated by Vantor, the commercial company previously known as Maxar, took the picture in 2024. The image became public two years afterward through the Pentagon’s recently unclassified Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of space-based threats. Photographs of the experimental vehicle have been hard to obtain, making this an unusual opportunity to see it.
Space journalist Andrew Jones highlighted the photograph in a post dated October 27, 2026: “Behold: The US Defense Intelligence Agency has released a report on challenges to security in space, including an NEI image of China’s spaceplane from Maxar, taken in 2024.”
For years, trackers have followed Shenlong’s trips around Earth and watched it deploy mysterious objects. Much of its work is still unexplained: China has disclosed little about the aims of its four flights in the last six years, and the assessment offers few answers about Shenlong’s activities in orbit. Experts think it may also have collected objects, potentially using robotic arms, although that means of retrieval remains unconfirmed.
China’s space agency has described a peaceful purpose for the craft. It previously said Shenlong would “pave the way for more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future.” However, the agency hasn’t disclosed enough about the missions to account for what observers have seen.
Shenlong’s appearance is very similar to that of the US Space Force’s X-37B, another classified vehicle. Developed by Boeing, the American craft has accumulated thousands of days orbiting Earth during the past 16 years. August 2025 marked the start of its most recent mission, well over a year ahead of the report’s publication.
In 2024, the X-37B performed a risky “aerobraking maneuver” to descend from a “highly elliptical orbit.” Despite the resemblance between the craft, their looks alone don’t reveal the nature of Shenlong’s missions.
Spaceplanes aren’t the only subject of the DIA’s threat assessment. It also warns that the Chinese military has “multiple ground-based laser weapons with varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites.” The report describes additional capabilities as a possibility, not a certainty: “By the late 2020s, China may field space-based directed energy systems and higher-powered ground-based directed energy systems capable of threatening satellites in higher orbits,” the report reads.
The warnings provide no answer about the apparent docking visible in the image. Neither the photograph nor the assessment resolves the purpose of that encounter, and neither demonstrates the involvement of a weapon or any hostile activity.
