With cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other new information technologies going into space, the era of space intelligence is coming. At the same time, the spacecraft is facing more frequent and multi-task tests in an unprecedented complex environment, which set higher requirements for self-management. The current challenge lies in how to further build an integrated system of the virtual and real space for spacecraft to achieve intelligent interactive control and management. In this tendency, the integration of Digital twin(DT) with spacecraft is also in its evolutionary trend. DT provides a data and modelbased systematic approach for operation and management in the entire service life of on-orbit spacecraft. In this context, as a basic space system entity, the method of constructing DT of spacecraft is explored in this paper. Firstly, the concept of Spacecraft Digital twin (SDT) is put forward and four stages of simulation development are discussed from the perspective of DT. Moreover, the conceptual structure of fourdimensional model is proposed. After that, the key problems of SDT twin are discussed, including data acquisition, system configuration, and data service model. Accordingly, the future intelligent applications of spacecraft based on DT in autonomous cognition, autonomous operation and maintenance, as well as cluster collaboration are presented respectively.INDEX TERMS Spacecraft Digital twin(SDT), Digital twin, Artificial intelligence, Virtual reality fusion, Modeling and simulation, Cyber-physical system (CPS).