China's home-grown global satellite navigation system came a step closer to completion with the launch of another BeiDou-3 satellite at 11:57 p.m. Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in the southwestern Sichuan Province.
Launched on a Long March-3B carrier rocket, it is the 41st of the BeiDou navigation system, and will work with 16 other Beidou-3 satellites already in orbit.
It is also the first BeiDou-3 satellite in high orbit, about 36,000 km above the Earth. In a geostationary orbit, following the Earth's rotation, it will view the same point on Earth continuously.
A basic system with BeiDou-3 satellites orbiting will be in place by the year-end to serve countries in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, said Yang Changfeng, chief designer of the system.
The launch was the 290th of the Long March carrier rocket series.
