The Chinese spaceplane that recently returned from a nine-month flight, it turns out, did not waste time in orbit in vain. Among the experiments he performed were rendezvous operations with other spacecraft. At least twice the secret ship performed such maneuvers with a certain object, which he himself had previously sent into free flight.
Details about the behavior of the Chinese spaceplane CSSHQ in orbit were published by the American company LeoLabs. It is engaged in tracking objects in near—Earth space on a commercial basis and spying on secret ships of other countries - apparently, excellent advertising. Earlier, the firm shared details about the maneuvers of three dozen Iranian, Russian and Chinese satellites.
According to the SpaceNews portal with reference to LeoLabs, the secret Chinese spaceplane did not just change the parameters of its orbit within wide limits. Part of his maneuvers was connected with a certain object that separated from CSSHQ on October 31, 2022. For simplicity, it is called "Object J", the official name is NORAD ID 54218 or COSPAR ID 2022-093J. Presumably, this is a microsatellite, and capable of independent maneuvers. Representatives of LeoLabs claim that Object J has corrected its orbit at least five times.
From November 2022 to April 2023, the CSSHQ shuttle approached Object J several times . These operations are divided into three periods. In the first, from November 25 to December 24, 2022, the distance between the devices was so small that LeoLabs specialists consider it a docking. After that, the spaceplane moved away from the companion and they maneuvered independently until January 10, 2023. Then both devices "docked" again.
Alternative appearance of CSSHQ: most of the design is "borrowed" from the prototypes of "Shenlong", photos of which were published in the 2000sImage source: Italy24 upscale, original unknown
For the third phase, which lasted from February 20 to March 29, 2023, the data are not so unambiguous. At first, CSSHQ and Object J separated, then maneuvered next to each other, but LeoLabs is not sure that they docked back together again.
It is worth clarifying that the LeoLabs data is an array of measurements in the radio range from observation stations located around the world. As a result of long-term observations, simulations and cross-adjustments by different radars, the accuracy can be significantly increased. But in any case, no one can say for sure whether CSSHQ and Object J came into direct contact. They could well be at a distance of up to tens of meters from each other.
Based on the available data, it is unambiguously possible to judge that this was a kind of test of CSSHQ's ability to closely approach objects in orbits with similar characteristics. Considering that the spaceplane itself launched Object J, the logical conclusion seems to be the theoretical possibility of CSSHQ to inspect and take microsatellites from orbit.
Similar capabilities appeared for the purposes of the testing program of the American unmanned shuttle Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. But there is no evidence that such tests were carried out. It is known that the X-37B also launched microsatellites from its side.
The mention of the American spaceplane is not accidental: comparison with it is almost the only way to describe the Chinese development. The X-37B is shrouded in secrecy, but against the background of CSSHQ it looks like a model of publicity. Very little information is reported about the shuttle from China. It is reliably known that it exists, has already flown twice (in 2020 and 2022), and has a mass of no more than eight and a little tons (the payload of the launch vehicle).
The name of the ship literally stands for "reusable experimental spacecraft". According to a common version, its development is closely related to another spaceplane — the Shenlong. But this is nothing more than speculation, there are no details about either one or the second device.
