DIA Report Shows Image of China's Reusable Spaceplane

A new US Defense Intelligence Agency report includes a satellite image of a Chinese reusable spaceplane, alongside figures showing how quickly China’s launch rate has grown. The picture, credited “Satellite image © 2024 Maxar Technologies”, appears in the 2026 edition of Challenges to Security in Space, which DIA released on 26 October.

The 130-page report is the third in the series, after editions in 2019 and 2022, and its information runs to July 2026. DIA says it covers the space goals of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, along with hazards such as debris. Much of it is about how fast China’s space programme has grown, and how much of that growth rests on reusable hardware.

What the image and caption show

The image sits in a section on reusable space systems. Its caption reads: “A key capability for reusable space activities are spaceplanes like this PRC Spaceplane captured by Maxar. Spaceplanes can launch into orbit to place objects in space or even test them and return to earth.” DIA does not say where or when in 2024 the picture was taken.

The report says China has two main spaceplane models, Shenlong and Tengyun. It traces the programme’s flights as follows:

2020: China’s first prototype spaceplane reached orbit and returned after two days.
August 2022: a second mission began and lasted 276 days. In November 2022 the craft “appeared to maneuver with a companion satellite” at about 1km, at one point within 100 metres, and the two possibly met before the satellite was released again.
December 2023: a third mission began and stayed in orbit for 268 days, during which the spaceplane released and interacted with an object.

Elsewhere the report says China has flown four Shenlong missions and that in November 2024 it displayed a model of the Haolong-1, a commercial spaceplane meant to carry cargo cheaply to the Chinese space station. Russia, by contrast, “has made little progress” on spaceplanes since its Buran’s single test flight in 1988, according to DIA.

China’s launch numbers

The figures behind the image are about scale. China made 22 launches in 2016 and a national record of 93 in 2025, including 25 commercial launches, the report says. There were 18 more in the first quarter of 2026. The number of satellites China put in orbit each year rose from 40 in 2016 to 384 in 2025.

Much of that is aimed at large satellite constellations. DIA says China launched several batches for its national low Earth orbit constellations in 2025 and 2026, and that its fleet of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites passed 510 this year, more than triple the 2018 figure.

DIA writes that the United States is the only country that “currently fields an operational reusable SLV”, or space launch vehicle, and that “Beijing hopes to be the second”. Private Chinese firms are leading that effort, it says, citing Deep Blue Aerospace’s Nebula-1 in late 2023 and Landspace’s Zhuque-3 reusable rocket in 2025. The state-built Long March-12A launched on 30 April 2026, but its booster landing failed.

The report also places reusability in a wider market. It lists reusable rocket programmes due for testing by 2033 in China, Russia, Japan and Spain, and says British, Japanese and Russian firms are among those building tourist spacecraft.

Reusability is the race the report keeps returning to

The spaceplane is the eye-catching part, but the report’s thread is cost. Reusable rockets and spaceplanes cut the price of reaching orbit, and DIA links China’s push for them directly to the launch rates needed to fill and maintain large constellations. That is the same logic driving SpaceX, whose Starship booster recently fired all 33 engines, and Amazon, whose Leo network has just gained Globalstar’s satellite licences.

For Europe and the UK, the report is a reminder of where launch capacity sits. European satellite makers are expanding production but still rely on US rockets to reach orbit. DIA ties launch volume directly to who can deploy and sustain large constellations, and on its figures China is adding capacity on both fronts: more launches and a growing reusable programme.

The report is an intelligence assessment, and many of its judgements carry words such as “probably”. It also places spaceplanes in a defence context, noting that they are more manoeuvrable than standard satellites. What the public record now has is a picture to go with the mission dates: a reusable craft that has already spent more than 500 days in orbit across two flights, according to DIA’s own count.

The next marker is the further test flights of developmental rockets that DIA says the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) expects in 2026.