YAOGAN 8

YAOGAN 8 is an active satellite operated by Chinese Ministry of National Defense (China), launched on 2009-12-15 from Taiyuan, China on the yaogan weixing bahao launch. After 17 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,227 km and 1,258 km with an inclination of 100.2°. It travels at approximately 26,048 km/h (7.24 km/s), completing one full orbit every 110 minutes — that’s roughly 13.05 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks YAOGAN 8 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

YAOGAN 8 orbits at an average altitude of 1,243 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of YAOGAN 8’s average altitude, there are currently 462 active payloads and 306 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 100.2°, YAOGAN 8 passes over latitudes between 100.2°N and 100.2°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total, of which 5 share a similar altitude band with YAOGAN 8.