Analysis of Developments in the Space Domain
China conducted three separate launches placing 23 Guowang satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Two of the launches were to 50° inclined orbits while the third was to 86.5°. China now has 130 operational satellites in orbit…3 GEO, 55 LEO 86.5°, and 72 LEO 50°.
6 Dec 2025: China launched a Long March-8A with 9 Guowang Group 14 satellites (66915-66923) from Wenchang. This launch was into a 50° inclined orbit with satellites released at ~875km. Over the next 3-4 months China will gradually raise their altitudes to 1,149.3km. Launch Video.
8 Dec 2025: China launched a Long March-6A with 5 Guowang Group 15 satellites (66953-66957) from Taiyuan. This launch was into a 86.5° inclined orbit with the satellites released at ~1,004km. Over the next 1-2 months China will gradually raise their altitudes to 1,167.9km. Launch Video.
11 Dec 2025: China launched a Long March-12 with 9 Guowang Group 16 satellites (67059-67067) from Wenchang. This launch was into a 50° inclined orbit with the satellites released at ~806km. Over the next 3-4 months China will gradually raise their altitudes to 1,149.3km. Launch Video.
– With Group 14, 15 & 16 launches there are now 127 satellites in the operational LEO Guowang constellation (see graphics & tables). Additionally, there are 3 Guowang satellites in GEO and China has launched 18 Guowang test satellites.
– China is building out the Guowang constellation with orbits inclined either 50.0° or 86.5°. Currently there are 72 satellites in 8 50.0° orbital planes and 55 satellites in 6 86.5° orbital planes. See Table.
– Summary of Guowang Operational Launches
– Observations
– Deployment Status (all data as of 20 Dec 2025)
9 Dec 2025: China launched a Long March-3B with the TJS-22 (66990) satellite from Xichang. According to official sources, the satellite entered the planned orbit successfully and “will primarily support services including satellite communication, data transmission, and radio and television broadcasting, as well as conducting relevant technical tests and validations”. On 20 Dec satellite observers noted the satellite had reached geosynchronous orbit and was over 66.5° E with an inclination of 2.0°. At this location it TJS-22 is “near” TJS-2 (41911) which is also at 66.5°E, inclination (0.4°). China launched TJS-2 in 2017 and open source information notes the satellite performs missile warning function. Co-location with TJS-2 may indicate TJS-22 is a replacement for TJS-2…we’ll be watching to see if China re-locates TJS-2 in the coming months. Launch Video.
20 Dec 2025: China launched a Long March-5 with the TJS-23 (SATNO TBD) satellite from Wenchang. According to official sources, the satellite entered the planned orbit and will be “mainly used to carry out multi-band and high-speed communication technology validation tests”. Similar to the YG-41 (58582), TJS-11 (59020) and TJS-20 (66142), China used the LM-5’s the extended fairing (18.5m vs 12.3m) to carry TJS-23 to orbit. Launch Video.
TJS-22 & 23 were the 8th & 9th TJS satellite launches in 2025…previous record was 3 set in both 2021 and 2024.
8 Dec 2025: After launching Shijian-28 (66549) on 30 Nov on a Long March-7A, China circularized the satellite’s orbit. SJ-28 is now in geosynchronous orbit settled over 116.9° E longitude (over eastern Borneo) and inclined 5°. China has released no information regarding the mission of SJ-28. See below for graphic showing SJ-28’s location/inclination compared with other Chinese GEO satellites of interest. Launch Video.
9 Dec 2025: China launched a Long March-4B with the Yaogan-47 (66988) imagery satellite from Jiuquan. According to official sources, the satellite has entered the preset orbit successfully and “will be primarily used in national land surveys, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimation, environmental management, and disaster prevention and mitigation”. YG-47 is in a nearly sun-synchronous orbit typical for imagery satellites, with an average altitude of 496.4km and an inclination of 97.5°. At this inclination the satellite needs to increase its SMA (average altitude) nearly 70km to reach SSO. Launch Video.
20 Dec 2025: SJ-21 (49330) and SJ-25 (62485) remain in RPO conditions and were recently within <2km of one another. On 15 Dec the two satellites were ~60-65km apart, then both SJ-25 and SJ-21 maneuvered, SJ-25 on 17 Dec and SJ-21 24hrs later. As a result of these maneuvers the satellites came within 1.3km on 18 Dec (thank you COMSPOC_OPS). Amazing images from s2asystems (thank you Roger!) tell the story. s2asystems 20 Dec image reveals the two satellites are close enough to be indistinguishable from ground based optical telescopes. A final image from 22 Dec shows two objects again. Analysis is ongoing, but at this extreme proximity standard two line element set data (TLEs) are insufficient to identify maneuvers from either spacecraft. Recall the two satellites successfully detached from one another in late-November after presumably docking with one another on 2 July 2025. SJ-21 and SJ-25 have continued to operate “near” one another and were separated by <1km during the 1-5 Dec timeframe. The situation remains fluid and I hope to provide a more granular analysis in the next Flash.
25 Nov 2025: Tahir Azad published an article in Small Wars Journal describing China’s “growing satellite networks, which include navigation, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), communications, and missile early warning, are creating a ‘kill web’ in space that makes it easier for the PLA’s missile and hypersonic forces to find and shoot down targets.” Excerpts below.
– “Beijing views space integration as the key to achieving information dominance and missile precision, giving it a decisive edge in both deterrence and strike capability.”
– “BeiDou-3 (BDS-3) global navigation network now offers very accurate positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT)…the PPP-B2b service is broadcasting from GEO with real-time positioning accurate to the decimeter level (after convergence).”
– “Ludi Tance-4, the world’s first GEO-based SAR, and Yaogan-41, a high-resolution GEO optical platform, together give us constant, weather-independent views of large ocean and coastal areas…these platforms fuse imagery and signals intelligence into a seamless targeting web that
enables rapid detection, tracking, and strike coordination across maritime and terrestrial theatres.”
– “Yaogan-30 satellites, which are often launched in groups of three, are thought to do ELINT and geolocate ships by measuring the time and angle difference of arrival of their radio emissions…They are used for ocean surveillance and anti-ship targeting. This network tells other sensors and shooters what to do, which lets them kill moving targets like carrier groups and logistics convoys.” Editor’s note: I think the author is actually referring to Yaogan-31.
– “Open-source analysts link the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan (TJS) series in GEO to missile early-warning tests (Huoyan-1) and signals intelligence, which is another part of a growing strategic ISR and warning system.”
– “GEO ISR at scale (SAR + optics)…is perfect for cueing salvos of DF-26/DF-27, timing land attacks and anti-ship strikes, and keeping track of logistics that are spread out.”
– “Guowang & Qianfan aim to provide resilient C2 for distributed forces and unmanned swarms, mirroring lessons from Starlink’s battlefield utility in Ukraine.”
– “Hypersonic-space integration, which includes BDS-3 PNT, space-based ISR cueing, and early warning for missiles, makes it possible to quickly change targets and make decisions more quickly.”
– “The U.S. no longer has an unchallenged edge in precision PNT, exquisite ISR, or sovereign broadband low-Earth orbit (LEO) networks.”
– “China has combined its satellite systems into a powerful force multiplier for missile and hypersonic capabilities. These include BDS-3 for precision, GEO/LEO ISR for persistent targeting, mega-constellations for reliable communication, and counterspace tools to block enemy vision.”
Asia Times reporter Gabriel Honrada states that between 2024 and 2025, China upgraded its Spratly Island outposts into an integrated electronic warfare and sensing network, deploying AI-enabled, networked radars, shipborne sensors, and resilient data-fusion architectures. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative states these upgrades allowed PLA forces to resist advanced U.S. jamming, maintain radar tracking, and operate more aggressively in contested environments, with direct implications for U.S. space-enabled operations.
Spratly Islands reporting since 2020 on potential impact to U.S. Space Operations:
COMSPOC did a fabulous analyses and explanations and provided some very insightful videos for the 10 Nov 2025 FLASH. I was particularly intrigued with the Cosmos 2581/2582/2583 article and video. Whether you are new to astrodynamics and RPO OR are steeped in this important aspect of Space Domain Awareness (SDA), this article and videos are excellent to learn and comprehend the “what’s going on here.” To that end, here is a short “briefing” by fictitious US Space Force Lt…his name is awesome & he is into RPO big time! 😊For those who missed it here is the COMSPOC VIDEO.
“Hello, my name is Lt Clohessey Wiltshire, I am a Guardian who absolutely enjoys reading the Integrity Flash and especially articles where COMSPOC experts dive into a foreign RPO event. I also wake up each day and do the ”Orbital Element Dance” to get my astro motor running!
I am going to brief you on a very interesting RPO that occurred on 25 Oct 2025 involving Russian Cosmos 2581 as the Target and Cosmos 2583 as the Chaser. Both spacecraft are orbiting the Earth in pretty much a circular orbit at 585 Km. The video shows 3 Cosmos 2583 “laps” of 2581. By laps I mean “circumnavigations.” Each lap takes about 96 minutes, which is the orbit period of this Russian spacecraft. You will want to focus on 2 things: 1) the path of 2583 about 2581 and in the upper left, the time and distance between the Chaser relative to the target. Each “lap” in the videos takes about 8 seconds. Keep in mind in real time, a lap is 96 minutes. Bet you knew that! This video is speeded up more than 700X. Before we dive into the COMSPOC video, let’s ensure we understand how I will describe the position of the Chaser (2583) relative to the Target (2581). I made an illustration to introduce and explain the “RIC” coordinate frame used in describing relative motion (see graphic). I’ll be using the terms R-bar and V-bar, so be sure to digest the RIC frame.
If you really want to ramp up or refresh your Relative Motion knowledge, watch my two YouTube videos on Relative Motion and re-set the foundation for understanding effects of Radial, In-Track and Crosstrack single impulse maneuver effects, these are 12-minutes each and fun and informative, really!
Video 1 (intro to RIC, Radial and InTrack relative motion)
Video 2 (Cross track motion)
OK, let’s play the video and I will stop it after each circum nav….are you ready? Here goes!
I hope my narration of this excellent COMSPOC video helps you comprehend what’s happening as well as gives you confidence that YOU too can take a RPO related video and play it back for your colleagues or some Generals and help them understand the “what’s going on.” Good luck and thank you.
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