'Could Be a Spy Satellite': US Space Force Tracks Enigmatic Object Released by Covert Chinese Space Plane
In the silence between radar pings and official denials, a small unidentified object becomes a sharp reminder of how murky the new space race has already become.
A Chinese space plane has released a mysterious UFO-like object into orbit over Earth, US tracking data shows, prompting fresh suspicion that Beijing may be testing covert surveillance technology. The unknown object was detected near China's secretive 'Reusable Experimental Spacecraft' on 22 June 2026, according to a US-based monitoring firm and records now logged by the US Space Force.
The UFO was spotted during the latest mission of China's classified space plane programme, run by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The spacecraft, widely referred to by observers as 'Shenlong,' was launched atop a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert on 6 February. Chinese authorities did not disclose the mission's objectives, in keeping with previous flights, and have declined to comment publicly on what the vehicle is doing in orbit or what, precisely, it has released.
UFO Sighting Tracked by LeoLabs as Space Plane Drops New Object
The new UFO report did not originate from a government leak but from LeoLabs, a private American space-tracking company that operates a network of ground-based radars, including a facility in New Zealand.
In a statement shared on X, LeoLabs said: 'At 02:30 UTC on June 22, 2026, LeoLabs detected an unknown object in the vicinity of the Chinese Shenlong reusable space plane.' The company added that, after further observations across its global network and analysis using its in‑house LeoLabs Delta system, it had 'independently catalogued this object and assessed with high confidence that it was released from the Chinese space plane.'
LeoLabs also pointed out that the behaviour 'is consistent with sub-satellite deployments conducted by the space plane in previous missions.' In other words, this is not the first time China's reusable craft has quietly spat out something new into orbit, but each time it has done so without explanation.
The US Space Force has now added the object to its own satellite catalogue, according to Professor Jonathan McDowell of the Durham University Space Research Centre, who tracks global launches and orbital activity. He told the Daily Mail that the nature of the release is, at this stage, highly uncertain.
'It's hard to say at the moment, it might just be a cubesat, but it could be a very small spy satellite nothing fancy,' he said, referring to the tiny, modular satellites frequently used for research. He added that earlier objects released from the Chinese space plane 'have not manoeuvred or done anything particularly interesting,' an observation that slightly tempers the more breathless talk of cutting-edge space weapons.
Even so, every unannounced object adds one more layer of opacity to a programme that is already among China's most closely guarded. There are no official images of the current spacecraft. The closest researchers have come to actually seeing it was in 2024, when astronomer Felix Schöfbänker used a ground-based telescope to capture footage that seemed to show the vehicle with solar panels that had not appeared in any previous public renderings.
UFO Mystery Deepens Around China's 'Reusable Experimental Spacecraft'
The UFO now trailing the Shenlong is merely the latest entry in what has become a pattern of curious behaviour. In 2024, as one of its missions was drawing to a close, the space plane ejected a small satellite that analysts had not known was on board. Not long after, another episode triggered alarm when radar data suggested three sub-satellites had suddenly appeared near the craft. Subsequent analysis indicated they were not three fully fledged satellites after all, but debris fragments from the original launch.
The spacecraft has also been seen executing so‑called proximity operations, edging closer to other objects in orbit than is strictly necessary. Those manoeuvres are not illegal, and there is no hard proof they were hostile, but they feed a broader anxiety in Western defence circles about what, exactly, China is rehearsing.
Experts argue that the primary aim of the space plane is probably to 'do experiments and test advanced technology' rather than to conduct day‑to‑day operational missions. That is not especially reassuring. Experiments can be about extending the lifespan of reusable vehicles, but they can equally be about perfecting the art of sidling up to a rival's satellite to inspect, jam or even disable it.
One suggestion raised in analysis of the programme is that the United States, China and Russia are all now actively developing spacecraft capable of interfering with adversary satellites in orbit. If that is correct, China's mysterious UFO deployments are less an outlier and more a visible symptom of a wider race to master close-proximity operations in space.
None of the parties involved is keen to spell out the rules of that race. Beijing has said nothing at all about the object spotted on 22 June. The US Space Force, beyond its routine catalogue entry, has not publicly characterised the new satellite as benign, experimental or threatening. And LeoLabs, for all its technical confidence that the UFO was released by the Chinese space plane, has made no claim to know what it is actually for.
So, for the moment, the world is left with a familiar dynamic: a classified Chinese vehicle, a fresh unacknowledged object in orbit, a scattering of expert guesses and no definitive answers. Nothing about the UFO's purpose has been confirmed, and every interpretation, from humble research cubesat to miniature spy craft, still needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
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