Science
TIANHUI 5C
Chinese Military Stereo Mapping Satellite · CAST / PLA Navigation and Survey Bureau
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Part of a later expansion of China's Tianhui-5 stereo mapping generation, launched in 2024 to add further capacity to the PLA Navigation and Survey Bureau's terrain intelligence constellation. As successive Tianhui-5 satellites reach orbit, they collectively increase the frequency at which China can refresh its topographic and elevation databases for strategically significant terrain — a capability that compounds in value the more satellites contribute to it.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 378–379 mi (609–611 km)
- Inclination
- 97.8°
- One orbit
- 96.7 minutes14.9 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 60211
- Int’l designator
- 2024-126A
- Launched
- 2024
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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