Issue 129

6 Sep 2025: China launched Long March-6A with the Yaogan-40 03 triplets (65544, 65545 & 65546) from Taiyuan. According to official sources, the satellites entered the preset orbits and “will be used to carry out electromagnetic environment detection and related technical tests”. China has added 2 YG-40 triplets in 2025 (YG-40 02 launched in May), the original YG-40 launched in Sep 2023. All three launches have been from Taiyuan. The YG-40 satellites are inclined at 86.0° to allow China to monitor the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and fly in an equilateral triangle formation likely performing the radio frequency monitoring and geolocation mission. As of 11 Sep 25 the YG-40 03 triplets had begun to maneuver to establish their equilateral triangle formation. Launch Video.

– YG-40 03 deployment is following a similar pattern with both YG-40 01 and YG-40 02.

• To form the equilateral triangle formation China maneuvers 2 of the satellites to their desired operating average altitude of 851.3km. The third satellite remains at a lower SMA until it achieves the desired RAAN offset, at which point China will maneuver it to the same average altitude as the first 2 satellites and form the equilateral triangle formation.
• China increased the average altitude of YG-40 03B (65545) and 03C (65546) ~11km and both are now orbiting at 815.3km. 03B and 03C will likely continue to raise their SMA to ~851.3km to match the YG-40 01 and 02 operating orbits.
• YG-40 03A (65544) appears to be the singleton and is orbiting at 804.3km average altitude. I expect China will lower 03A’s SMA 15-20km in the coming days where it will remain for 3-4 weeks. Then it will raise its SMA to 851.3km to match 03B and 03C only it will have a RAAN offset of 0.45°- 0.60°.

-Looking more broadly at the YG-40 constellation, China has placed YG-40 03 36° west of YG-40 01 and 36° east of YG-40 02. (see graphic).

9 Sep 2025: China launched a Long March-7A with the Yaogan-45 (65563) satellite from Wenchang. Official sources noted the satellite entered the planned orbit and “will be mainly used for scientific experiments, land resource surveys, crop yield estimates, and disaster prevention and relief work”. This mission description matches those provided by other Yaogan satellites with Earth observation (imagery) missions. YG-45’s orbit is an unusual one in that it is much higher than is typical for Earth Observation satellites, ~7,500km, and is in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). YG-45 is the first Yaogan satellite in MEO and I believe the first Chinese non-Beidou satellite in MEO. Launch Video.

– As of 14 Sep the 18 Space Defense Squadron (SDS) has collected only one observation of YG-45. With this information the satellite appears to be in a 7,500km orbit with an inclination of 20.0°.

• Per Johnathan McDowell tweet on 13 Sep 2025, “Lack of US tracking updates for Yaogan 45 for past 4 days suggests it circularized its orbit at 7500 km on Sep 9/10.”
• Low Earth Orbit extends to 2,000km, Medium Earth Orbit covers 2,000 – 35,786km, GEO is 35,786km.

-China’s use of the LM-7A likely indicates YG-45 is a large satellite.

• Per official Chinese news sources: “This marks the Long March 7A’s first medium-orbit launch mission. By strengthening the core-stage tank structure and increasing the number of core-stage engine starts, the design team has increased the Long March 7A’s medium-orbit payload capacity from 7 tons to over 8 tons, enhancing the rocket’s mission adaptability.”
  • Based on this statement it is likely YG-45 has a mass in excess of 8,000kg.
• YG-45 is not the first imagery satellite China has placed beyond LEO. While it is the first in MEO, China operates the following imagery satellites in GEO (36,000km above the equator): Gaofen-4 (2015/41194) estimated resolution 50m, Gaofen-13 01 (2020/46610) estimated resolution 15m, Gaofen-13 02 (2023/55912) estimated resolution 15m and Yaogan-41 (2023/58582) estimated resolution 5m. China also operates the Ludi Tance-4 01 (2023/57624), the world’s first and only GEO-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imager.
• Editor’s Note: The launch patch suggests a SAR imager with the collection pattern emanating from either side of the central star. This is pure speculation on my part.

5 Sep 2025: China launched a Long March-3C with a Yuanzheng-1 upper stage, with the Shiyan-29 satellite (65486) from the Xichang. According to official sources, the satellite was developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS) and uses the SECM3000 satellite platform. Shiyan-29 entered the desired orbit and “will be mainly used for space environment detection and related technical tests”. Launch Video.

– China has placed SY-29 into a very unusual and interesting orbit. The satellite is technically in super-GEO, in that its orbital period is greater than 24 hours.

– The GEO belt (the distance above the equator where the orbital period is ~24hrs) is 35,786km. SY-29 has an apogee (furthest point from the earth) of 36,570km, or 784km > GEO. SY-29’s perigee (closest point to the earth) is 35,800km, or 14km > GEO.

– Most objects in GEO are inclined <2°, SY-29 is inclined 28.5°.

– With its current orbital parameters, SY-29 is moving westward 5.4° per day.

– SY-29’s unique orbit will likely complicate efforts to characterize the satellite through Non-Earth Imaging. USA 270 and 271 are US GSSAP satellites, both are inclined at ~3.4°. China’s inspector satellites, SY-12 01/02 and SJ-23 are inclined ~3°.

8 Sep 2025: Geely, a Chinese auto manufacturer, launched a Smart Dragon-3 (Jielong-3) with 11 satellites (GeeSAT-5) (65550-65560) from a sea-based platform off the coast of Rizhao, Shandong Province. According to official sources, the 11 Geely satellites were successfully placed into a 600km Low-Earth orbit. Launch Video. Better launch Video.

– Current Status

• With this launch there are now 52 GeeSATs in orbit. All are inclined 50.0° and operating between 550-600km.
• Each launch populated a single orbital plane. Geely has now populated 5 of its planned 8 orbital planes. All are inclined 50° and have 45° RAAN separation. (see graphic below)
• GeeSAT-1 launched 9 satellites on a LM-2C from Xichang in June 2022 (2022-058).
• GeeSAT-2 launched 11 satellites on a LM-2C from Xichang in February 2024 (2024-023).
• GeeSAT-3 launched 10 satellites on a Long March-6 from Taiyuan in Sept 2024 (2024-159)
• GeeSAT-4 launched 11 satellites on a Jielong-3 from off the coast of Rizhoa on 8 Aug 2025 (2025-170).
• GeeSAT-5 launched 11 satellites on a Jielong-3 from off the coast of Rizhoa on 8 Sep 2025 (2025-201)

– Per website: “The ‘Geely Future Mobility Constellation’, also known as GEESATCOM and developed by Geespace, is a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation designed to provide comprehensive global communication and ‘Vehicle-2-Everything’ connectivity services.”

– GEESATCOM deployment is scheduled for three phase implementation.

• Phase 1: 72 satellites will provide global real-time data communication, while supporting mid-to-low-speed satellite services across multiple sectors, from autonomous driving and smart connectivity. The company’s stated goal is to complete phase 1 by the end of 2025.
• Phase 2: 264 additional satellites to enable direct-to-cell communication, extending services to existing mobile phones globally.
• Phase 3: 5,676 multimedia satellites will be added, offering high-speed LEO broadband communication.

– Geely is currently 20 satellites short of their Phase 1 goal of 72 satellites.

• Based on current deployment patterns it appears GEESATCOM will consist of “an 8-plane constellation with 45° spacing between planes.” If this is the case they will require at least 4 launches (1 launch to the remaining 4 planes) to complete Phase 1.
• Per excellent post from Adithya Kothandhapani: “The RAAN spacing analysis suggests launches into planes at 45°, 180°, and 315° would provide the symmetric temporal coverage needed for Geely’s autonomous driving and IoT service requirements.” (see graphic)
• More from Adithya (this time in Linked In post): “Using the Sea Dragon makes absolute sense, as it it opens up their launch opportunities and also helps them hit their own target on completing the constellation by end of 2025.”

Editor’s Comment: GeeSAT is China’s third entry into the proliferated Low Earth Orbit (pLEO) megaconstellation game. We will be watching for future sea-based launches to complete Phase 1 of the constellation. There are currently navigation warnings in place for another Jielong-3 sea launch on 21 Sep 2025.

11 Sep 2025: One of China’s GEO-based inspector satellites, Shiyan-12 02 (50322) had a point of closest approach (POCA) with a US missile warning satellite, the Space based infrared system (SBIRS) GEO 6 (USA 336/53355). POCA occurred on 11 Sep at ~2247Z as SY-12 02 was continuing on its westward drift. At POCA the 2 satellites were <60km from one another (safe distance and not unusual). The solar phase angle was ideal for SY-12 02 to image USA 336 with the sun nearly directly behind SY-12 02 (see graphic). China did make a slight maneuver with SY-12 02 from 11-15 Aug when the satellite decreased its SMA ~1.5km. Unknown if China conducted this maneuver to optimize collection opportunity with USA 336.

14 Sep 2025: Russia made at least 2 maneuvers from 6-9 September with Cosmos 2588 (64095) and raised its orbit ~6.4km. The SMA increase appears to be larger than recent station keeping maneuvers. Cosmos 2588 remains in nearly co-planar orbit with the US satellite USA 338. The two satellites routinely have a point of closest approach (POCA) of <100km every 4 days. Cosmos 2588 is believed to be one of Russia’s Nivelir inspector satellites that US Space Command has labelled a “space weapon.” I don’t believe the maneuvers resulted in any appreciable difference in POCA distances between Cosmos 2588 and USA 338.