- Military
- YAOGAN 17A
- NORAD 39239
- 2013-046A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the South China Sea
Orbit ends over the Bay of Bengal
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Yaogan Weixing 17 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 17, 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 United States of America LIVE
Where is Yaogan Weixing 17?
At 7:25:37 PM UTC Yaogan Weixing 17 was over the United States of America (41.6° N, 108.6° W), 1,244 km up, moving at 7.16 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Yaogan Weixing 17?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 1, 2013.
Can I see Yaogan Weixing 17?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Yaogan Weixing 17, 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
- 7:25 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 7:25 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 41.6° N, 108.6° W
- Altitude
- 1,244 km
- Speed
- 7.16 km/s (25,790 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In sunlight until 8:20 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 63.4°
- Orbital period
- 107 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.46
- This orbit
- 760 to 1,415 km
- In shadow
- 29 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,730 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 8:05 AM, 11 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 8:05 AM, 11 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Yaogan Weixing 17, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Yaogan Weixing 17 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 17 shares its launch, 2013-046, with 5 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| YAOGAN 17B | Satellite |
| YAOGAN 17C | Satellite |
| CZ-4C R/B | Rocket body |
| 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, 8:05 AM, 11 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "YAOGAN 17A",
"OBJECT_ID": "2013-046A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T08:05:52.221408",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.4552131,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.04389214,
"INCLINATION": 63.3833,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 78.3414,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 12.6305,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 348.5306,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 39239,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 64768,
"BSTAR": -0.000016184079,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000108,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}