According to amateur astronomer Scott Tilley, who has been tracking the craft since it entered Earth orbit last week, China’s secret space plane is likely to be sending signals to a ship or a hidden ground station near the west coast of North America.
According to the South China Morning Post, the astronomer claimed that strong emissions at the frequency of 2280 megahertz were detected while the uncrewed reusable plane flew over British Columbia in Canada.
“I’m seeing a pattern in its radio emissions while over me and it appears to favor low-elevation western passes,” said Tilley, who has earlier worked with NASA in finding its long-lost IMAGE satellite in 2018.
“This could indicate a clandestine ground station on the west coast of North America or on a ship off the coast,” he added while clarifying that he was speculating.
Since it took off from the Gobi Desert, China’s secret plane, which has been compared to the US military space plane X-37B, has been closely tracked by satellite trackers all over the world.
Six objects are currently in Earth’s lower orbit: Tilley
According to Tilley and his team in Switzerland, which specializes in optical-band space surveillance, the launch of the secret plane has resulted in at least six objects flying in Earth’s lower orbit.
Tilley added that the six objects also included the space plane, which he labeled as object A and appeared to be very bright with stable altitude control.
He went on to say that there were probably two satellites (objects D and E) that were released by the plane and emitted radio signals similar to object A, “but without any form of data, just idle filler.”
Tilley added that, while the purpose of the satellites is unknown, it is possible that they were used to “test rendezvous and retrieval operations.”
The European team posted on the social media platform X that object B was “very bright” and that its light curve pointed to a rocket upper stage. Objects C and F, according to Tilley, appeared to be rocket debris because they were tumbling and dim.
It is the Chinese plane’s third mission, following a two-day maiden flight in 2020 and a second flight that lasted only nine months. According to reports, the plane released mysterious objects during the previous two missions.