HY-2C

HY-2C (Hai Yang 2C) is the third ocean-dynamics flight unit in China's HY-2 series, operated by NSOAS. It was launched on 2020-09-21 and is operational as of WMO OSCAR's last update (2026-02-02). WMO OSCAR records a current orbit altitude of 1,336 km at 66 degree inclination; AVISO records an average geodetic height of approximately 957 km for the altimetry mission phase.^[1][2]

HY-2C carries five payloads: a radar altimeter (ALT) for sea-surface height measurement; the HSCAT Ku-band scatterometer for ocean-wind vector retrieval; a calibration microwave radiometer (CMR) for passive microwave sensing and radiometric calibration; a DORIS receiver for precise orbit determination; and a laser retroreflector array (LRA) for satellite laser ranging.^[1][3]

HY-2C forms part of a multi-satellite constellation with HY-2B and HY-2D to increase the temporal sampling of ocean-wind and sea-surface-height measurements. EUMETSAT's OSI SAF operationally processes HY-2C HSCAT wind data for near-real-time marine weather services.^[4]