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Issue 8

03 Flash Archive · Members Only

China launched a seventh group of Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellites

China launched a seventh group of Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellites, likely adding another orbital plane to a low-inclination constellation optimized for revisit over regions relevant to Chinese national security.

Author Greg Gillinger Published April 2, 2020

– 26 October 2020: China launched a seventh group of Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellites. (see VIDEO)

– Yaogan means “remote sensing satellite” and is a family of satellites in various orbits, conducting a mixture of optical, synthetic-aperture radar, and other unknown (but probably electronic intelligence gathering) sensing.

– The three new satellites will possibly occupy the sixth plane of the system, with the satellites spaced by 120° in their orbits.

The Yaogan orbits are best suited for imagery satellites seeking to maximize revisit times. The Yaogan constellation’s low inclination give the satellites good coverage of the Pacific, India, China, North Korea and even Japan, but the most northern and southern parts of the globe are not covered: the satellites spend their time in the band of latitudes relevant to Chinese national security concerns.

Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellite group.

Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellite group.