CLASSIFIED
YAOGAN-42 02
Chinese Military Reconnaissance · CASC / PLA
Right now
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Yaogan-42 (02), the second satellite in this designation, continuing the program's pattern of individual rather than triplet deployment. Whether Yaogan-42 represents a genuinely different single-satellite sensing approach or simply a smaller-scale technology testbed within China's broader reconnaissance satellite ecosystem remains an open question for Western analysts tracking the program.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 313–318 mi (504–512 km)
- Inclination
- 35.0°
- One orbit
- 94.6 minutes15.2 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 59557
- Int’l designator
- 2024-075A
- Launched
- 2024
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More classified
- YAOGAN-43 01AChinese Military LEO Constellation Testbed
- YAOGAN-43 01BChinese Military LEO Constellation Testbed
- YAOGAN-43 01CChinese Military LEO Constellation Testbed
- YAOGAN-43 01DChinese Military LEO Constellation Testbed
- YAOGAN-43 01EChinese Military LEO Constellation Testbed
- YAOGAN-43 01FChinese Military LEO Constellation Testbed