- Military
- YAOGAN 16A
- NORAD 39011
- 2012-066A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Sargasso Sea
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Yaogan Weixing 16 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
No brightness has been published for Yaogan Weixing 16, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over the Atlantic Ocean LIVE
Where is Yaogan Weixing 16?
At 7:27:37 PM UTC Yaogan Weixing 16 was over the Atlantic Ocean (15.8° N, 55.6° W), 761 km up, moving at 7.64 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Yaogan Weixing 16?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Nov 25, 2012.
Can I see Yaogan Weixing 16?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Yaogan Weixing 16, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- General Armaments Dept. of the PLA
- State
- China, People's Republic of
- Built by
- Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing (CASC 5th Acad)
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 500 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 7:27 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 7:27 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 15.8° N, 55.6° W
- Altitude
- 761 km
- Speed
- 7.64 km/s (27,497 km/h)
- Course
- north-east
- Light
- In sunlight until 7:44 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 63.4°
- Orbital period
- 107 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.46
- This orbit
- 754 to 1,421 km
- In shadow
- 31 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,050 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:06 AM, 14 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:06 AM, 14 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Yaogan Weixing 16, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Yaogan Weixing 16 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Launched with
Yaogan Weixing 16 shares its launch, 2012-066, with 6 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| YAOGAN 16B | Satellite |
| YAOGAN 16C | Satellite |
| CZ-4C R/B | Rocket body |
| CZ-4C DEB | Debris |
| CZ-4C DEB | Debris |
| CZ-4C DEB | Debris |
Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:06 AM, 14 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "YAOGAN 16A",
"OBJECT_ID": "2012-066A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:06:39.083904",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.45526644,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.04469897,
"INCLINATION": 63.3515,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 277.7549,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 28.3373,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 334.12,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 39011,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 68552,
"BSTAR": 0.00012104316,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 4.1e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}