China completes core network of GPS rival Beidou with latest satellite launch

  • Beidou is one of only four global navigation satellite systems, along with America's GPS, Russia's Glonass and Europe's Galileo

Coco Fengin Guangdong
A Long March-3A carrier rocket carrying two satellites of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System blasts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, China's Sichuan Province, on December 16, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

China sent two new satellites into space on Monday, bringing the country another step closer to the full deployment of the Beidou navigation system, its rival to the US-owned GPS.

After a flight time of over three hours, the two satellites made their way into orbit, joining 22 others at an altitude of 20,000 kilometres (12,427 miles), according to Beidou’s website. With eight satellites evenly distributed on each of the three-plane deployment, each location on earth can now be covered by five or six satellites of the entire system at any one time, a precondition for global service, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Wang Ping, the chief designer of the third-generation Beidou satellites.

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