YAOGAN-24

MilitaryLEOSSOPolarChina

YAOGAN-24 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 639 km altitude. It completes one orbit of Earth roughly every 98 minutes at an inclination of 98.2°. It was launched in 2014. Track its live position and see when it passes over your location on azmth.

Orbital data

NORAD ID: 40310
COSPAR ID: 2014-072A
Type: Military
Orbit: LEO
Perigee (lowest): 639 km
Apogee (highest): 658 km
Inclination: 98.17°
Orbital period: 98 min
Launch year: 2014
Owner (CelesTrak): China

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

Who operates it

ChinaLIVEActive

Optical imaging

GCAT lists it as Yaogan Weixing 24.

Independent assessment

GCAT classes it as a military satellite for optical imaging and records it as active (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.