YAOGAN-37

YAOGAN-37 is an active satellite operated by Chinese Ministry of National Defense (China), launched on 2023-01-13 from Jiuquan, China. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 503 km and 526 km with an inclination of 43.2°. It travels at approximately 27,391 km/h (7.61 km/s), completing one full orbit every 95 minutes — that’s roughly 15.17 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Orbital Radar tracks YAOGAN-37 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

YAOGAN-37 orbits at an average altitude of 515 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of YAOGAN-37’s average altitude, there are currently 8,325 active payloads and 266 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1017, STARLINK-1039, STARLINK-1184. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 47.8% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 43.2°, YAOGAN-37 passes over latitudes between 43.2°N and 43.2°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. China operates approximately 1,219 active satellites in total, of which 220 share a similar altitude band with YAOGAN-37.