Yaogan is a military reconnaissance satellites. Yaogan satellites are largely known to primarily support the People's Liberation Army's Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), formerly the Aerospace Reconnaissance Bureau of the Second Department of the General Staff. Yaogan satellites are the successor program to the Fanhui Shi Weixing (FSW) recoverable reconnaissance satellite program but, unlike its predecessor, includes a variety of classes utilizing various means of remote sensing such as optical reconnaissance, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), and electronic intelligence (ELINT) for maritime surveillance. Yaogan satellites have been launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in Shanxi province, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) in Sichuan province.

Although individual Yaogan satellites are often referred to by their number, Chinese military reconnaissance satellites are typically categorized by their military Jianbing designation. Jianbing translates to "point soldier", "vanguard", or "pioneer" and entered use in satellite designations with China's very first series of reconnaissance satellites, FSW-0, as the Jianbing-1 series. The first Yaogan satellite, Yaogan 1, is one of three Jianbing-5 (JB-5) series satellites following the final FSW-3 satellites of the Jianbing-4 (JB-4) series. Because Jianbing designations are secret and only Yaogan numbers are officially used, the Jianbing designations for later classes still remains unknown to the public.

The Long March 4C, also known as the Chang Zheng 4C, CZ-4C and LM-4C, previously designated Long March 4B-II, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. It is launched from the Jiuquan, Taiyuan, and Xichang Satellite Launch Centers, and consists of 3 stages. Long March 4C vehicles have been used to launch the Yaogan-1, Yaogan-3 synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellites and the Fengyun-3A polar orbiting meteorological satellite. On 15 December 2009, a Long March 4C was used to launch Yaogan-8.

Because it was still designated as Long March 4B-II at the time of its maiden flight, the first launch is often mistaken for a Long March 4B. The Long March 4C is derived from the Long March 4B, but features a restartable upper stage, and a larger payload fairing.

On 1 September 2016, the Long March 4C failed for reasons not yet known. A Long March 4C rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi but failed to insert its payload, the Gaofen 10 satellite, into its designated orbit.

Stats

Height: 45.8 m (150 ft)

Diameter: 3.35 m (11.0 ft)

Mass: 250,000 kg (550,000 lb)

Stages: 3

South Launch Site (SLS) 2 is one of two launch pads in the southern launch region of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

The pad is capable of launching five rocket types, including the Chang Zheng 2C, 2D, 4B, 4C, and 11 variants and has been in service since 2003.

Part of the larger Jiuquan launch complex, the area is also known as the Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center and is located in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia region of Gansu Province.

The spaceport was founded in 1958 and has hosted more launches for China than any other space facility in the nation.