BeiDou Navigation Satellite System patch.
June 23, 2020
Long March-3B launch the last BeiDou-3 navigation satellite
A Long March-3B launch vehicle launched the last BeiDou-3 navigation satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, southwest China, on 23 June 2020, at 01:43 UTC (09:43 local time). The geostationary satellite is the 55th of the BeiDou family and the last satellite for China’s BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3). With the last satellite in orbit, the BDS-3 global constellation is considered completed.
The last BeiDou-3 satellite launch
The GPS has a new strong competitor: China finalized Tuesday with the launch of a last satellite its Beidou navigation system. It allows him to cover the whole world and to free himself from the Americans.
Scheduled last week, the event was postponed until the last moment due to an unspecified "technical problem".
This 30th and final third generation Beidou satellite (Beidou-3) was propelled into space at 09:43 local time from the Xichang launch center in southwest China by a Long March 3 rocket, according to images from public television CCTV.
Artist's view of a BeiDou-3 satellite by J. Huart
Already in overseas commercial service since 2012, Chinese technology was initially limited to the Asia-Pacific region. With the finalization of this constellation, the entire planet is now covered.
Beidou, which takes its name from the constellation "Big Dipper" in Mandarin, coexists with other satellite navigation systems worldwide: GPS (property of the American government and operated by the air force), Galileo (European Union) and Glonass (Russia).
Big event
Their applications are multiple: guiding pedestrians, cars, cargo ships, rescuers during natural disasters, sending messages, positioning service for the mining industry or agriculture ...
Strategic, they can also be used by the armies of their respective countries (China, United States, Russia) in order to carry out geolocation or guidance of very high precision missiles.
The Chinese Navigation Satellites Constellation
Tuesday's launch is a "big event" that "makes China independent of the American and European systems," said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the United States.
For more information about Beidou navigation system: http://www.beidou.gov.cn/
For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC): http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html
Images, Video, Text, Credits: China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews/CASC/CNSA/ATS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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