Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island, subordinate to Base 27 of the Space Systems Department of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force, successfully launched the Yaogan-41 (Remote Sensing-41) satellite into a predetermined orbit with a Long March 5 rocket at 21:41 on December 15th, 2023 (orbital altitude of the Yaogan-41 is between 195 km and 35,815 km with a tilt angle of 19.51 degrees according to public tracking data). The PLA claimed that the Yaogan-41 satellite is a high-orbit optical Yaogan satellite, which is mainly used in the fields of national land surveys, crop yield estimation, environmental management, meteorological early warning and forecasting and comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation.
The fairing of the Long March 5 carrier rocket has a diameter of 5.2 meters and a length of 18.5 meters. Based on the size of the rocket, the aperture of the Yaogan-41 satellite’s optical camera is about 4 meters, exceeding that (3 meters) of the U.S. Keyhole reconnaissance satellite. An optical camera with a 4-meter aperture greatly improves the optical resolution of the Yaogan-41, enabling it to achieve sub-meter resolution in geosynchronous orbit and carry out high-resolution imaging of ground and air targets to obtain information including target location, types and characteristics. This will support the PLA in military intelligence, strategic strikes and anti-stealth missions. It can also be used to identify and track military targets such as aircraft carriers, frigates, and stealth aircraft.
The boost and terminal phases of ballistic missiles are in the atmosphere, which produces a strong infrared tail flame that can be detected by infrared satellite systems in high orbit. In other words, the optical camera of the Yaogan-41 can determine the launch point, landing point, speed, missile type, number of warheads, warhead separation and other important parameters of a ballistic missile based on the information of the missile's tail flame, including position, brightness and temperature, to provide early warning and intelligence support for antimissile systems.
The PLA began to launch the Yaogan-series satellites in 2006. Currently there are about seventy Yaogan satellites (constellation) in orbit, covering different bands and resolutions and forming a multi-layer Yaogan satellite network. Moreover, there are 108 Jilin-1 satellites (ultimately will be 300), Gaofen-series satellites (Gaofen-1 to Gaofen-14), BeiDou system, and three Tianlian relay satellites. China already has the ability to monitor the earth in all weather and around the clock. The reason why the PLA launched the Yaogan-41 satellite may be because the Gaofen-4 is about to retire and probably will be replaced by the Yaogan-41 satellite.
The Yaogan-41 is by no means only used in the fields of national land surveys, crop yield estimation, environmental management, meteorological early warning and forecasting and comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation as claimed by the PLA. In fact, the satellite has multispectral and hyperspectral capabilities and is a standard military reconnaissance satellite. The Yaogan-41 satellite is the 38th satellite launched by the PLA in 2023 and the 502nd satellite launch by the Long March-series carrier rockets. Records show that the Long March rockets completed its first one hundred launches in 37 years, the second in 5 years and 6 months, the third in 4 years and 4 months, the fourth in 2 years and 9 months and the fifth in only 2 years. With the support of national budget and plans, the PLA’s space force has been catching up and actively narrowing the gap with major countries in recent years. This marks China’s technological breakthrough.
China now has orbital vehicles (Yinglong suborbital spacecraft), aerospace plane (Shenlong) and hypersonic missiles. It can independently launch all types of satellites and has the BeiDou system, Yaogan constellation, Tiangong space station, lunar exploration program, Mars exploration program, asteroid defense system, lunar base construction and the Chinese version of Starlink. In other words, China is also a space power. China has always believed that in the space age, those who have supremacy in space will prevail. Therefore, China emphasizes that it must not lose in the Great Space Age and firmly believes that it will eventually win the final victory.
Xi Jinping instructed the PLA to win informatized warfare. Space capacity building has thus become the top priority of China’s military modernization. The PLA’s ability to conduct military reconnaissance and launch attacks in space will change the pattern of war and pose serious threats to Taiwan’s national security. Therefore, in the great space age, Taiwan should dedicate more efforts to space research, personnel training and budget injection. Taiwan must build capability in space to ensure national security.
(Tai-yuan Yang, Contract Research Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Communist Studies)
(Translated to English by Cindy Li)
