China has just launched a spacecraft to place it in orbit around the Earth for a while. This shuttle, about which little is known today, has left while the United States will also deploy its own space shuttle in December.
It was a laconic press release, sent on December 15 by the Chinese space agency, which announced the news. A Long March 2F rocket took off the day before from the Jiuquan base, in the northeast of the country. On board, a “ reusable test spacecraft » which will remain in orbit around the Earth « some time », before returning to China.
According to the presentation made by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, this vehicle “ will conduct verifications for reusable technologies and space science experiments “. The time he will spend in space is not specified. On the other hand, the emphasis is placed on work linked to a “ peaceful use of space. »
Coincidentally, the departure of this uninhabited vessel occurs while the United States is also preparing to deploy theirs in the immediate vicinity of the blue planet. Since December 10, the American army has been waiting for the takeoff of a Falcon Heavy rocket, with the very intriguing X-37B shuttle on board. For the moment, the departure is hampered by problems on the ground and the weather.
This must be the seventh flight under the X-37B program (and the fourth for this specific example of shuttle). Special feature of these missions: they are increasingly longer in space. The first flight lasted more than 224 days. The sixth 908. The next one could exceed this mark, but the Space Force remains discreet about its objectives.
In the case of the Chinese vehicle, called Shenlong (divine dragon, in Mandarin), this is the third shot. A first test was mentioned at the beginning of September 2020, then a second at the beginning of August 2022. Three years ago, we could already see the same elements of language on the peaceful use of space in the Chinese press release, without much further clarification.
If Beijing highlights the harmless nature of this program, the fact remains that the Shenlong’s capabilities could be militarized, for example to make it an anti-satellite platform. A similar hypothesis exists for the X-37B given the great interest of the American army in this vehicle built by the aeronautics giant Boeing.
Mutual observation
Washington is not ignoring Chinese projects with the Shenlong, just as Beijing is likely closely following the development of the X-37B. Questioned on this subject, the American general at the head of the Space Force, Chance Saltzman, judged that “ it’s probably not a coincidence » if Shenlong is launched more or less at the same time as the X-37B.
These comments were reported on December 13 by Air and Space Forces magazine. And the general did not hide the intention of the American army to take a close interest in the Shenlong, before adding that the People’s Liberation Army will undoubtedly do the same thing as soon as the X-37B is operational . And this will not be the first time that the two powers have observed each other on this ground.
“ It is not surprising that the Chinese are extremely interested in our space plane. We are extremely intrigued by theirs. Putting something into orbit, doing some things, bringing it home and reviewing the results is [une capacité] powerful. These are therefore two of the most monitored objects while in orbit “, he added
Other powers in the world can also be expected to closely follow each other’s trajectory. Russia, the United Kingdom and even France. France has a wide range of information allowing it to follow what is happening at altitude, and sometimes very far away in space. Starting with its GRAVES radar, precisely dedicated to space monitoring.
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