Yaogan 16A (JB-8 2A)

Spacecraft nº:

Chinese spacecraft nº: 198

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• YAOGAN 16A was designed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., a state-owned space contractor. The satellite is designed for a variety of uses, including technological experimentation, land resource surveying, agricultural yield estimation and disaster prevention and reduction. China's naval observation satellites are the counterpart to the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's Naval Ocean Surveillance System, or NOSS, which include two or three formation-flying satellites in similar orbits. China's Yaogan satellites are likely run by the Chinese military, according to Western analysts.
• Yaogan 16 (Remote Sensing Satellite-16) is the designation of three remote sensing satellites, which were launched by a CZ-4C rocket from China's Jiuquan space center.

Mission details:

• This launch was previously schedule for December 5, 2011 but was delayed to January 2012, after that launch pushed back to November.
• Yaogan Weixing 16 (Resource satellite 16) was launched from Jiuquan, China on Nov 25. It consists of three satellite payloads (probably a main satellite and two subsatellites) in 1079 x 1089 km x 63.4 deg orbits and is thought to be an ocean surveillance system similar to the US NOSS. This is the second such launch, joining the Yaogan 9 triplet launched in 2010.

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