CLASSIFIED
YAOGAN-31 04A
Chinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet) · CASC / PLA
Right now
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Lead satellite of the fourth Yaogan-31 triplet, launched 2023 to continue China's sustained investment in high-altitude naval ELINT surveillance. Even as China's newer Yaogan-35 and Yaogan-36 satellite families began appearing in the lower-altitude orbital regime, the older Yaogan-31 program continued its own parallel expansion — evidence that China maintains multiple concurrent reconnaissance satellite architectures rather than retiring older systems as newer ones emerge.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 595–765 mi (958–1,232 km)
- Inclination
- 63.4°
- One orbit
- 107.0 minutes13.5 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 47854
- Int’l designator
- 2021-020A
- Launched
- 2021
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More classified
- YAOGAN-31 04BChinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet)
- YAOGAN-31 04CChinese ELINT Naval Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet)
- YAOGAN-32 02AChinese Military Satellite (Assessed SAR Pair)
- YAOGAN-32 02BChinese Military Satellite (Assessed SAR Pair)
- YAOGAN-32 AChinese Military Satellite (Assessed SAR Pair)
- YAOGAN-32 BChinese Military Satellite (Assessed SAR Pair)