Overview
- The Defense Intelligence Agency publicly released the unclassified Maxar photo on Oct. 26, 2026, showing the underside of a Chinese reusable spaceplane with an attached service module and rear‑deployed solar arrays.
- Maxar captured the image in 2024 during what analysts say was the craft’s third known mission, and the picture gives the clearest view yet of its payload‑bay doors, service module and power arrays.
- Open reporting and the DIA say the vehicle has flown four orbital missions since 2020, including long flights in 2022 and 2023 that lasted roughly 276 and 268 days respectively, and a fourth mission launched in February 2026.
- Trackers and analysts including LeoLabs and Jonathan McDowell have reported that the spaceplane released, rendezvoused with, and later recaptured companion objects—operations consistent with satellite inspection or in‑orbit servicing but not, in public reporting, evidence of a kinetic anti‑satellite weapon.
- The image tightens comparisons to the U.S. X‑37B and adds pressure on space operators and policymakers to monitor reuse and proximity capabilities, which could complicate satellite safety, require new tracking norms, and influence future U.S. space policy and cooperation decisions.