China successfully launches last satellite for its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System

The three GEO satellites, including the newly launched one, can help significantly enhance the overall technical indicators of the BDS-3 system, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the satellite developer China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) as saying. Some of the countries like Pakistan are using the BDS.

China on Tuesday successfully launched the last satellite of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, touted to be a competitor to the US' Global Positioning System (GPS), taking another step to becoming a major space power. The satellite was launched on Tuesday morning from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The satellite, the 55th in the family of BeiDou that means "Big Dipper" in Chinese, was successfully sent into space by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, state-run CGTN quoted China Satellite Navigation Office as saying. The launch will mark the completion of the country's domestically developed BeiDou network, one of the four global navigation networks alongside the US' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

India too is building its navigation satellite system called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), with an operational name of NAVIC. Compared with other global systems in the world, the design of the BDS constellation is unique, including medium earth orbit (MEO), inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites.

The BDS-3 system consists of a total of 30 satellites, including 24 MEO satellites, three IGSO satellites and three GEO satellites. The three GEO satellites, including the newly launched one, can help significantly enhance the overall technical indicators of the BDS-3 system, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the satellite developer China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) as saying.

Some of the countries like Pakistan are using the BDS. China is also promoting its use in the countries signed-up for its multi-billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BDS-3 satellite was originally scheduled to be launched on June 16, but it was postponed due to technical problems that were discovered in pre-launch tests.

The latest GEO satellite is the 55th BDS system and will work with other members of the network, allowing global users to access high-accuracy navigation, positioning, and timing as well as communication services, official daily Global Times reported earlier. Compared to previous generation series, the constellation of BDS-3 with an array of 30 satellites flying on three different orbit planes - three at the GEO, three at the inclined geosynchronous orbits, and 24 at the medium Earth orbit - have higher bandwidth.

They enable enhanced communication capability and carrying more accurate and stable domestically developed atomic clocks to improve the precision of timing and navigation services, the report said. The first BeiDou satellite entered orbit in 2,000 and started providing positioning, navigation, timing, and messaging services to domestic users in China and users in the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012.

The BDS system started providing global services at the end of 2018 when construction of the BDS-3 primary system had been completed. The Tuesday mission will complete the BDS-3 system, which, according to Wu Di, a scholar with the satellite positioning technology centre of Wuhan University, will further enhance the quality of services of the system for global users providing stronger signals.