China successfully launched another Compass satellite into geostationary orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwestern Sichuan province at about 0:12 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday (January 17). It was the third satellite in the second-generation Beidou program that China has launched for its GNSS system, following a middle earth orbit (MEO) spacecraft sent up April 14, 2007 and a GEO spacecraft last April 18 Read more
The Chang Zheng-3C rocket with the Beidou 2G F-2 (Compass) navigation satellite was successfully launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at 16:12 GMT, 16th January, 2010.
The third Beidou satellite will lift off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province at "an appropriate moment soon", atop a Long March-3C carrier, the centre said on Friday in a statement. Both the rocket and the satellite are now in sound condition and ready for launch, it said. A new government-run website, www.beidou.gov.cn, was also launched on Friday. Read more
A Chang Zheng-3C rocket with the Beidou 2G F-2 (Compass) navigation satellite is scheduled to launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre on the 16th January, 2010.
China will launch more navigation satellites next year to develop the second-generation Beidou satellite navigation system - China's equivalent to the US GPS navigation system - an official said. The country aims to complete the second-generation Beidou system by 2011, a director with the China National Administration of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Application said yesterday at a conference commemorating five years of the Beidou system's operation. Read more