By Sarah Cope | 2025-09-30

China's Yaogan-45 satellite blasted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan province September 9 in its successful inaugural launch, aboard a modified Long March-7 rocket.

Official sources characterize Yaogan-45 as a remote sensing satellite, assigned tasks such as land resource surveys, crop‐yield estimates, disaster prevention, relief work and scientific experiments.

Yet independent analysts and open-source observers speculate that Yaogan-45 is a spy satellite designed to conduct intelligence gathering or reconnaissance.

The Yaogan ("remote sensing") satellite program, which began in 2006, supports the space element of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). As of January 2024, China had placed 144 Yaogan surveillance satellites into orbit.

The satellite's remote sensing capabilities include optical reconnaissance, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), and electronic intelligence (ELINT).

These can work in tandem to map zones of interest, detect changes on the ground, monitor naval activity and intercept signals.

ELINT satellite capabilities identify targets by detecting electronic emissions and send a "tip" or a "cue" to the SAR, which then creates images of these objects.

Combined with information from other sources, such as optical satellites, ELINT and SAR data is used to build a comprehensive intelligence picture.

While Beijing typically categorizes Yaogan satellites in civilian terms, such as environmental or agricultural monitoring, the satellites' remote sensing capabilities include high-resolution imagery, mapping and change detection.

This provides valuable information in both civilian and military contexts.

Some reports describe the satellite as being in an "unexpected orbit," a term used to describe a satellite that deviates from its expected trajectory. This often fuels speculation about mission purpose.

Dual-purpose satellites

Yaogan-45 aligns with China’s long-standing pattern of deploying remote sensing satellites that serve both civilian and strategic purposes.

By maintaining dual-use framing, Beijing preserves plausible deniability while steadily expanding the PLA’s space-based reconnaissance network.

The launch reveals China’s drive to refine its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) architecture, which increasingly complements naval and missile forces in contested areas such as the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

The high volume of satellites in orbit enables the formation of a resilient and redundant constellation, providing persistent coverage over areas of interest and enabling potential early warning and real-time targeting capabilities.

Surveillance capabilities are essential to China’s pursuit of anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategies in contested maritime environments.

Round-the-clock surveillance would enable the PLA to maintain blockades and intercept incoming threats.

As space becomes a new zone of conflict and increasingly contested, the deployment of Yaogan-45 highlights how advanced satellite constellations are central to strategic competition.

Whether intended primarily for scientific purposes or military reconnaissance, the satellite strengthens China’s position in the accelerating race to dominate space-based intelligence.