Amateur astronomers track mysterious 'radiation' to Earth
Nearly a year after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon that was suspected of collecting intelligence from military installations, a top-secret Chinese space plane is sending strong signals over North America. Amateur astronomers have discovered that a Chinese spaceplane is sending “radiation” to Earth.
Top-secret Chinese space plane, launched into orbit last week, is sending strong signals over North America, writes the Daily Mail.
The craft, named Shenlong after the dragon spirit of Chinese mythology, released six mysterious objects after reaching Earth's orbit for the third time in three years.
The objects are being tracked by the US Space Force, but none have been publicly disclosed details about what they are and what purpose they serve.
Amateur astronomer Scott Tilley followed the planes and studied the signals they emitted. He told DailyMail.com that they seem to send out their strongest signals while flying over North America.
This happened just 10 months after the United States shot down a Chinese aerial probe, which, according to one version, could have collected intelligence by flying over several military installations.
Scott Tilley said that, according to one version, he believes the signals are directed to a ground station or ship near British Columbia, Canada, where he lives.
“When the spaceplane flies over me, it only emits a specific path that seems to favor a location south-southwest of me. That is, “there are no signals when passing at a higher altitude above me, but when passing through the ocean to the southwest of me, all my observations of the object took place,” says the amateur astronomer.
Tilley joined forces with the group in Switzerland, which specializes in optical space surveillance, and in cooperation with them, has been closely monitoring the aircraft since its launch on December 15.
The US Department of Defense has designated the six aforementioned objects as OBJECTS A through F.
Tilley and the team in Switzerland have designated the spaceplane as Object A, which «has now been identified as a test spacecraft by the US Space Force.»
Object B is «very bright» and exhibited «multi-pass performance that we would more closely associate with an upper stage,» said S2A Systems, a team based in Switzerland.
“The light curve of object D also indicates orientation stabilization,” the team continued. Object C appears as a weak piece of debris spinning rapidly. OBJECT F is also quite faint, but no rotation has yet been detected. We will take further measurements over the coming weeks.
Objects E and D are believed to be satellites.
«An object believed to be the space plane 'Object A' is emitting signals,» said Scott Tilley. «Objects D and E were also seen emitting signals by an observer in Australia. I also just received another report of possible signals being received from Object B.» .
According to the Daily Mail, a report in the Chinese press described the purpose of the space plane as providing «technical support for the peaceful uses of space,» but Beijing is keeping details secret, as are American officials about their craft.
The Chinese spaceplane was launched a day after the US was forced to cancel the flight of its «spy plane», which, according to the head of the US space force, «was not a coincidence.»
«This is likely It’s no coincidence that they are trying to match us in timing and sequence of actions,” said General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations for the US Space Force.
Speaking at the Space Force Association’s Spacepower conference in Orlando, General Saltzman highlighted the sophistication of these unmanned and reusable orbital reconnaissance vehicles, which can provide greater operational security than spy satellites. «Being able to put something into orbit, do some things, bring it back home and see the results is powerful,» Saltzman said.
«It's no surprise that the Chinese are extremely interested in our space plane.» — he said. — And we are extremely interested in their work. access.
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