On June 23, the final networking satellite of China's Beidou-3 Global Navigation Satellite System blazed off at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

 Xinhua News Agency, Xichang, June 23 (Reporters: Li Guoli, Zhang Mimi, Hu Zhe)The sky serves as the chessboard and stars as the pieces; China’s Beidou shines bright in outer space. The last global networking satellite of the Beidou-3 system, whose launch was delayed for one week due to technical reasons, lifted off again at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on the morning of June 23 and successfully entered its preset orbit. China has fully completed the constellation deployment of the Beidou Global Navigation Satellite System six months ahead of schedule.

On June 23, the final networking satellite of China's Beidou-3 Global Navigation Satellite System lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

The Beidou System is a global satellite navigation system independently developed and operated by China, and it is the world’s only navigation system composed of satellites in three types of orbits. The construction of the Beidou-3 system was officially launched in 2009, and the first pair of Beidou-3 twin satellites were successfully launched in November 2017.

Against the special backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, all teams of the Beidou project fought on two fronts: completing constellation networking missions and conducting epidemic prevention and control. The final two launch tasks were accomplished on schedule, and the completion of global constellation deployment was realized six months ahead of the original plan. At present, more than half of the countries worldwide have started to use the Beidou System.

"China’s Beidou serves the globe and benefits humanity," said Yang Changfeng, Chief Designer of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System Project. By 2035, China will build and improve a more ubiquitous, integrated and intelligent comprehensive positioning, navigation and timing system, further enhance space-time information service capabilities, and enable China’s aerospace industry to make due contributions to leading humanity toward broader dreams and farther exploration.

Starting from the late 20th century, China has explored a satellite navigation development path suited to its national conditions, and gradually formulated a three-step development strategy. By the end of 2000, the Beidou-1 system was completed to provide services for China. By the end of 2012, the Beidou-2 system was built to cover the Asia-Pacific region. In 2020, the Beidou-3 system was established with full global service capabilities.

(Source: Xinhuanet)