China's secretive Shenlong ("divine dragon") reusable space plane has released another unidentified object in low Earth orbit, commercial space surveillance firm LeoLabs confirmed on June 22, 2026. The object was first detected by LeoLabs' Kiwi Space Radar in New Zealand at 02:30 UTC and independently verified across their global sensor network. The U.S. Space Force subsequently logged the mystery payload into the military's official space registry.
This marks the ninth unidentified object Shenlong has released since its first orbital mission in 2020, and the latest deployment on its fourth mission, which launched on February 6, 2026, atop a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. China's state media described the mission as conducting "technological verification for reusable spacecraft," but the nature, size, and purpose of the released objects remain publicly unconfirmed.
Defense analysts note that previous Shenlong payloads have emitted unidentified signals while in orbit. The spaceplane has been linked to suspected rendezvous and proximity operations with other satellites, raising questions about its potential surveillance, intelligence-gathering, or anti-satellite applications. China has not publicly acknowledged any of the payload deployments across all four missions.