YAOGAN-15

MilitaryLEOSSORetrogradeChina

YAOGAN-15 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 1,179 km altitude. It completes one orbit of Earth roughly every 109 minutes at an inclination of 100.7°. It was launched in 2012. Track its live position and see when it passes over your location on azmth.

Orbital data

NORAD ID: 38354
COSPAR ID: 2012-029A
Type: Military
Orbit: LEO
Perigee (lowest): 1,179 km
Apogee (highest): 1,217 km
Inclination: 100.72°
Orbital period: 109 min
Launch year: 2012
Owner (CelesTrak): China

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

Who operates it

ChinaLIVEMission ended about Jul 2019

Optical imaging

GCAT lists it as Yaogan Weixing 15.

Independent assessment

GCAT classes it as a military satellite for optical imaging and records its mission as ended in about Jul 2019 (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.

Military satellites, counted and explained →

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.