CLASSIFIED
YAOGAN-36 03A
Chinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation) · CASC / PLA
Right now
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The lead satellite of a three-spacecraft formation China calls Yaogan-36, group 03 — and beyond that bare fact, almost nothing is confirmed. Beijing's official line is disaster monitoring and land survey. Western analysts read the same orbit, the same triplet geometry, and the same launch pattern that built China's naval targeting network, and see something else entirely: radar eyes watching ships that don't know they're being watched. Nobody outside a small circle in Beijing knows for certain which version is true — and China has no intention of clarifying.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 288–289 mi (463–466 km)
- Inclination
- 35.0°
- One orbit
- 93.7 minutes15.4 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 54372
- Int’l designator
- 2022-160A
- Launched
- 2022
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More classified
- YAOGAN-36 03BChinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation)
- YAOGAN-36 03CChinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation)
- YAOGAN-36 04AChinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation)
- YAOGAN-36 04BChinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation)
- YAOGAN-36 04CChinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation)
- YAOGAN-36 05AChinese Military SAR Imaging (Assessed Triplet Constellation)