Chinese space plane launches unidentified object into orbit: all about it

The space plane has been in orbit for more than 165 days. (Representative Image)

The US Space Force has noticed that there is another object that was launched by China’s secret space plane and is now in orbit around the Earth. It is not yet known what it is, but it has been given the name 59884 (2023-195G), increasing the existing curiosity of the reusable spacecraft mission, according to Space news.

The space plane has been in orbit for more than 165 days since its launch in December 2023. On previous occasions, this was not something strange, as other objects were deployed and strange signals were emitted by them, as per the means of communication.

However, experts can only speculate on the reasons behind such a move. This specific action follows a similar action during its second flight in 2022, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who notes that on this occasion, this craft jettisoned an object for proximity and recapture testing along the time. So is this just another repeat test or are there new things coming up?

“A new object (59884/2023-195G) has been cataloged as associated with the Chinese space plane CSSHQ in a 602 x 608 km x 50.0 degree orbit. It appears to have been ejected around 19:00 UTC on May 24” , McDowell posted on X .

This object could be a subsatellite deployment, or it could be a piece of hardware ejected before the end of the mission and orbit (the first space plane flight did something similar). It will be interesting to see if the plane maneuvers or lands soon.

-Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) May 26, 2024

“This object could be a subsatellite deployment or it could be a piece of hardware ejected before the end of the mission and deorbited (the first space plane flight did something similar). It will be interesting to see if the plane maneuvers or lands soon. “, he posted soon after.

The answer still lies in China, which has maintained secrecy about its operations in relation to the space plane. Furthermore, through this incident, China’s space program has shown how far it has come, leaving us only with questions about what they really want.