BEIJING – China on Tuesday sent a new Beidou navigation satellite into theorbit on a Long March-3A rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre inSichuan Province. The satellite is the 32nd of the Beidou navigationsystem, and one of the Beidou-2 family, which is the second generation ofthe system, Xinhua news agency reported.
The launch was the 280th mission of the Long March rocket series. Chinastarted to construct the third-generation of Beidou system in 2017, andeight Beidou-3 satellites are now in space.ADVERTISEMENT
So why launch another Beidou-2 satellite? “The launch of a backup Beidou-2satellite will ensure the system’s continuous and stable operation,” saidYang Hui, chief designer of the Beidou-2 series. Named after the Chineseterm for the Big Dipper constellation, Beidou aims to rival the US GPSsystem, Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo as a globalsatellite navigation system.
The project was formally launched in 1994. It began serving China in 2000and the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. Since then, the system has providedreliable and free, all-weather and all-time positioning, navigation andtiming services to customers in the Asia-Pacific region and has never beenout of service, according to the China Academy of Space Technology.
However, some of the Beidou-2 satellites are nearing the end of their livesand need to be replaced by backup satellites. China launched two backupsatellites on March 30 and June 12, 2016. This new backup is not a simplerepeat of previous satellites, but has been upgraded to improve itsreliability, said Yang. It carries a rubidium clock, which is the key tothe accuracy of its positioning and timing.