On December 14, China launched an experimental, reusable spaceplane into low Earth orbit, the Spaceship third trip to space. China is tight-lipped about the spaceplane’s purpose, however, four days into the mission, amateur astronomer and satellite tracker Scott Tilley noticed six “mysterious wingmen” tracking behind the craft, several of them appearing to be emitting signals.
“The experimental spacecraft will operate in orbit for a period of time and then return to the scheduled landing site in China,” Chinese state media said. Xinhua mentioned. “During this period, reusable technology verification and space science experiments will be conducted as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space.”
The objects, which are tracked by many organizations, emit different types of data.
“The OBJECT A emission or emissions close to it are reminiscent of previous Chinese spaceplane emissions, in the sense that the signal is modulated using a limited amount of data,” Tilly said. Space.com websiteadding that objects labeled D and E appear to be broadcasting placeholder signals, and are not sending any useful data.
When analyzing data from Object A, amateur radio operator Daniel Estevez found small differences in transmission, but not much.
“One thing is clear,” he wrote on his page. website. “The signal does not contain a lot of data, as most of the bits show the same repeating pattern.”
It remains unclear what the additional satellites are for, or what China is testing.
[H/T: Space.com]
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