YAOGAN-4

MilitaryLEOSSOPolarChina

YAOGAN-4 is a military satellite, as listed in Jonathan McDowell's GCAT catalogue, with ownership listed as China in CelesTrak's catalogue, currently in low Earth orbit, around 615 km altitude. It completes one orbit of Earth roughly every 97 minutes at an inclination of 97.9°. It was launched in 2008. Track its live position and see when it passes over your location on azmth.

Orbital data

NORAD ID: 33446
COSPAR ID: 2008-061A
Type: Military
Orbit: LEO
Perigee (lowest): 615 km
Apogee (highest): 636 km
Inclination: 97.94°
Orbital period: 97 min
Launch year: 2008
Owner (CelesTrak): China

Orbital data updated: 2026-10-18 · from CelesTrak, refreshed every 2 hours.

Who operates it

ChinaLIVEMission ended about Oct 2018

Radar imaging

GCAT lists it as Yaogan Weixing 4.

Independent assessment

GCAT classes it as a military satellite for radar imaging and records its mission as ended in about Oct 2018 (17 Oct 2026).

Data: GCAT · CC BY 4.0 Class, mission and status adapted from GCAT by Jonathan McDowell, CC BY 4.0, data update 17 Oct 2026.

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About LEO orbit

Low Earth Orbit. Up to 2,000 km altitude. Where most satellites live including the ISS (~420 km), Starlink (~550 km), and Earth observation. Orbital period roughly 90 minutes.