Nation's space achievements out of this world

Global network

In late June, the final satellite to complete the third-generation network of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System was launched by a Long March 3B rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province, and placed in a geostationary orbit about 36,000 km above Earth.

After in-orbit tests, the satellite－the 59th in the Beidou family and 30th in the 3G series－started formal operations in late July, marking the start of Beidou's provision of full-scale global services.

Beidou is China's largest space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, along with the GPS of the US, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

More than 300,000 scientists, engineers and technicians from more than 400 Chinese institutes, universities and enterprises have been involved in Beidou's development and construction.

Since 2000, 59 Beidou satellites, including the first four experimental models, have been launched from Xichang on 44 Long March 3 series rockets. Some have already been retired.

The system began providing positioning, navigation, timing and messaging services to civilian customers in China and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012. At the end of 2018, it began providing basic global services.

There are now 30 3G Beidou satellites: 24 in medium-Earth orbit; three in inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit; and three in geostationary orbit.

Some 2G Beidou satellites are also in operation and offering regional services, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

Compared with 2G satellites, 3G models offer greater accuracy and stability, a clearer signal and more state-of-the-art technology such as intersatellite links, satellite-based augmentation and global emergency search capabilities.

In addition to space-based assets, Beidou has a ground-based network that includes dozens of stations, more than 200 subsystems and over 30,000 sets of equipment.