Science
YUNHAI-2 01A
Chinese GNSS Radio Occultation Weather Satellite · SAST / Chinese Military (Assessed)
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One of six identical Yunhai-2 satellites launched together in December 2018 — the lead spacecraft of China's first GNSS radio occultation weather constellation. Yunhai-2 satellites listen to GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and Galileo signals bending through Earth's atmosphere to derive precise temperature and humidity profiles, the same occultation technique used by COSMIC and Spire's commercial constellations. Curiously, the six satellites were initially split between two very different altitudes (325 miles and 680 miles) before all converging to roughly 500-mile circular orbits by mid-2019 — an unusual post-launch maneuvering campaign that drew attention from orbital analysts.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 499 mi (802–803 km)
- Inclination
- 50.0°
- One orbit
- 100.8 minutes14.3 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 43909
- Int’l designator
- 2018-112A
- Launched
- 2018
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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