XICHANG: China has successfully sent twin BeiDou navigation satellites intospace on a single carrier rocket.
The Long March-3B carrier rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite LaunchCenter in southwest China’s Sichuan Province at 7:52 a.m. on 25th August.It was the 283rd mission of the Long March rocket series, said a source ofthe launch center.
The twin satellites entered orbit more than three hours after the launch.After a series of tests, they will work together with 10 other BeiDou-3satellites already in orbit.
The twin satellites were developed by the Innovation Academy forMicrosatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper, the BeiDou system startedserving China in 2000 and the Asia-Pacific region in 2012.