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YAOGAN-8 — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 36121)
Track YAOGAN-8 (NORAD catalog number 36121) live on the WatchSat interactive 3D globe above. Its position is propagated in real time from the latest CelesTrak two-line element set using the SGP4/SDP4 orbital model — the same math professional trackers run. It has been on orbit since 2009, launched on the 72nd orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2009-072A). It went up together with 1 other satellite from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 79,936 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.25 km/s, YAOGAN-8 flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 1,233 × 1,266 km, completing one revolution every 110.3 minutes — about 13.1 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0021). Its 100.2° retrograde, near-polar inclination is characteristic of a Sun-synchronous orbit — the type Earth-imaging and weather satellites use to revisit each spot at the same local solar time. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 130.3°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 0.95° per day, matching the Sun's apparent motion — which is what holds its lighting constant.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~1,233 km × 1,266 km |
| Inclination | 100.20° |
| Orbital period | 110.3 min (13.05 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00213 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2009-072A |
| NORAD catalog number | 36121 |
This page's orbital elements come from the CelesTrak catalog of 2026-09-08. The live 3D view above fetches its own current CelesTrak data when the page opens, through an edge cache that refreshes roughly every 30 minutes.
About the Other Active Satellites group
YAOGAN-8 is one of 4,471 active satellites in WatchSat's general catalog — the broad population of Earth-observation, communications, science, amateur-radio and technology spacecraft outside the giant broadband constellations. Browse all other active satellites live in 3D.
Can you see YAOGAN-8 from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, YAOGAN-8 is visible only around dawn and dusk, when your sky is dark but the satellite is still sunlit — and whether you can spot it depends on its size and reflectivity. See pass predictions for your location for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of YAOGAN-8 in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- XIWANG-1 (HOPE-1) (NORAD 36122)
- DIRECTV 12 (NORAD 36131)
- YAOGAN-7 (NORAD 36110)
- WGS F3 (USA 211) (NORAD 36108)
- INTELSAT 15 (IS-15) (NORAD 36106)
- EUTELSAT 36B (NORAD 36101)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe