China’s secret space plane emits strong signal to the ground when passing North America: satellite tracker
- Amateur astronomer speculates the aircraft could be signalling ‘a clandestine ground station on the west coast of North America or on a ship off the coast’
- Space plane has been followed closely by satellite trackers around the world, including team in Switzerland, since it took off last Thursday
Strong emissions were detected at the frequency of 2280 megahertz while the uncrewed reusable plane was flying over British Columbia, Canada, where Scott Tilley is based, he told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.
“I’m seeing a pattern in its radio emissions while over me and it appears to favour low-elevation western passes,” said Tilley, who helped Nasa find its long-lost IMAGE satellite in 2018.
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“This could indicate a clandestine ground station on the west coast of North America or on a ship off the coast,” he said while emphasising that he was speculating.
The secretive Chinese plane, which is seen as a counterpart of the US military space plane X-37B, has been followed closely by satellite trackers around the world since it took off from the Gobi Desert last Thursday.
According to Tilley and a team in Switzerland that specialises in optical-band space surveillance, the launch on Thursday resulted in at least six objects now flying in low Earth orbit.
That included the space plane itself, Tilley said, which he designated object A and appeared to be very bright with a stable attitude control.