CLASSIFIED
YAOGAN-12
Chinese Military Reconnaissance · CASC / PLA
Right now
LiveIt moves every second. See exactly where it is — worked out from its orbit, on your own device — on the live 3D globe.
- Over
- —
- Altitude
- —
- Speed
- —
Yaogan-12, part of the JB-10 series alongside Yaogan-5 and Yaogan-21 — Chinese reconnaissance satellites whose orbital characteristics and launch pattern closely mirror known SAR or optical imaging missions. Launched in 2011, Yaogan-12 continues China's steady cadence of military Earth observation satellite deployments feeding an increasingly comprehensive space-based intelligence architecture.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 299–307 mi (482–493 km)
- Inclination
- 97.1°
- One orbit
- 94.2 minutes15.3 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 37875
- Int’l designator
- 2011-066B
- Launched
- 2011
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More classified
- YAOGAN-14Chinese Military Reconnaissance
- YAOGAN-15Chinese Military Reconnaissance
- YAOGAN-16 01AChinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet)
- YAOGAN-16 01BChinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet)
- YAOGAN-16 01CChinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet)
- YAOGAN-17 01AChinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet)