• AutoTL;DRB
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    26 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Just four days after being launched on its third mission, China’s Shenlong (“Divine Dragon”) robotic space plane seems to have placed six objects into Earth orbit.

    Tilley and other satellite trackers have analyzed the signals and are confident that the emissions are coming either from the objects or from close proximity to them.

    "In summary, this iteration of the Chinese space plane mission launched into a similar orbit as the last two but operationally it is exhibiting different radio behavior than before.

    On its two previous missions — which launched in September 2020 and August 2022, respectively — the spacecraft was seen releasing a small unknown object into orbit.

    It was speculated that the objects could be service modules, test articles for practicing placing payloads into orbit, or perhaps even small satellites used to monitor the space plane, SpaceNews wrote in November 2022.

    The U.S. Space Force is currently set to launch the spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Dec. 28 after several delays.


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