YAOGAN-8

MilitaryLEOSSORetrogradeChina

YAOGAN-8 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 1,233 km altitude. It completes one orbit of Earth roughly every 110 minutes at an inclination of 100.2°. It was launched in 2009. Track its live position and see when it passes over your location on azmth.

Orbital data

NORAD ID: 36121
COSPAR ID: 2009-072A
Type: Military
Orbit: LEO
Perigee (lowest): 1,233 km
Apogee (highest): 1,266 km
Inclination: 100.19°
Orbital period: 110 min
Launch year: 2009
Owner (CelesTrak): China

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

Who operates it

ChinaLIVEMission ended Dec 2015

Optical imaging

GCAT lists it as Yaogan Weixing 8.

Independent assessment

GCAT classes it as a military satellite for optical imaging and records its mission as ended in Dec 2015 (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.