The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has confirmed that what an image that has been circulating on the Internet since 2024 shows is a Chinese experimental space plane in orbit. DIA has published this Monday a higher resolution version, which allows you to appreciate a design almost identical to that of the American X-37Bas part of its report ‘Challenges to Security in Space’.
Two years ago, Colonel John Patrickthen responsible for US space forces in South Korea, He already showed the photograph during the Open Space Forum. It was not clear then whether it was an X-37B, given the resemblance, and both the Space Force and Maxar, the company that took the image, declined to clarify, according to The War Zone.
The former Maxar, which was renamed Vantor in 2025, has confirmed that its satellite WorldView-3 took the image on May 28, 2024 from about 90 kilometers away. He has also specified that the structure with solar panels visible at the rear corresponds to another satellite attached to the vehicle.
The device remembers to a miniature ferrywith small wings, two vertical stabilizers and a central hold whose hatches open upwards. Two possible landing gear compartments appear under the fuselage, while its wings have greater chord than those of the X-37B, that is, more distance between the front and rear edges.
‘Space planes, like this one from the People’s Republic of China photographed by Maxar, constitute a key capability for space activities with reusable vehicles. They can be launched into orbit to place objects in space or even test them and return to Earth,’ explains the DIA in the caption of its report on space security.
The agency points out that ‘China has two main models of space planes, the Shenlong and the Tengyun’. Although Shenlong is the name usually associated with the experimental vehicle, the report does not identify which one appears photographed.
China has launched four orbital missions with its experimental reusable space plane since 2020, the last on February 7, 2026 and still without a known return, according to The War Zone. During the third, between December 14, 2023 and September 6, 2024, The device released several objects whose function is unknown.
The landings appear to take place at a base in northwest China with a runway of about 5,000 meters, one of the longest in the world. The facilities have been expanded considerably and also host tests of other advanced aircraft, which has led to comparisons with the Area 51 United States.
The American X-37B is a reusable and unmanned space planebuilt by Boeing and operated by Space Forcewhose program adds eight missions since 2010. It is used to test technologies in orbit, such as laser communications and navigation systems, and to bring back the equipment used in the experiments to analyze its operation and status after the mission.
The DIA highlights that ‘space planes are (…) reusable and offer greater maneuverability, making them more suitable for certain missions than conventional satellites’.
The report also explains that ‘traditionally, access to space requires disposable space vehicles, such as single-use launchers, satellites and non-reusable capsules designed to maximize performance.’ ‘The dependence on disposable vehicles has made access to space expensive and within the reach of few’he adds.
Reuse allows this economic barrier to be reduced, although it requires overcoming significant technical and development difficulties. ‘Reusable technologies, although even more difficult and expensive to develop and build, can significantly reduce the cost of space flight by recovering, reconditioning and reusing rocket stages, fairings and capsules‘, says the document.