YAOGAN 19

YAOGAN 19 is an active satellite operated by Chinese Ministry of National Defense (China), launched on 2013-11-20 from Taiyuan, China. After 13 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,194 km and 1,209 km with an inclination of 100.1°. It travels at approximately 26,119 km/h (7.26 km/s), completing one full orbit every 109 minutes — that’s roughly 13.16 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks YAOGAN 19 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

YAOGAN 19 orbits at an average altitude of 1,202 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of YAOGAN 19’s average altitude, there are currently 735 active payloads and 203 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 100.1°, YAOGAN 19 passes over latitudes between 100.1°N and 100.1°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. China operates approximately 1,219 active satellites in total, of which 67 share a similar altitude band with YAOGAN 19.