Chinese satellite sweeps the entire GEO belt every 23 days
What happened
Shijian-31, a classified Chinese satellite launched June 16, 2026 (Long March 3B, Xichang; CASC description: "space environment exploration"), is operating in a modified Molniya-type orbit — 63.46° inclination, perigee <2,000 km, apogee ~39,900 km positioned over the equator rather than the northern hemisphere — with a 12.5-hour period whose 15.7°-per-rev longitude drift sweeps its apogee past the entire geostationary belt roughly once every 23 days. Integrity ISR identified the geometry June 26; ComSpOC confirmed it July 21. Effect: recurring close-vantage passes over every GEO satellite, a persistent space-domain-awareness/inspection capability against the belt.
Read-across for SES
First desk sighting (briefs/ grep: zero prior Shijian-31 mentions). A Chinese classified asset with repeating inspection geometry over the whole GEO arc touches SES directly as one of the largest GEO operators — fleet characterization, GovSat/defence-payload observation, and a normalization step for Chinese proximity operations in the belt. Chinese move = EXISTENTIAL-class by default, and reader's top revealed priority (Chinese orbital threats: "push any operational milestone"). Taxonomy fit is imperfect — this is counterspace/SDA, not connectivity.
As the brief filed it
[AGE: 2d] China's classified Shijian-31 (launched Jun 16, Long March 3B) is flying a modified-Molniya, 12.5-hour orbit that sweeps the entire GEO belt every ~23 days — ComSpOC-confirmed (Jul 21) persistent inspection geometry over every GEO asset, including SES's core fleet and GovSat.