The last BeiDou Navigation Satellite-3 constellation satellite, also the 55th of the BeiDou satellite
family, was successfully launched on board a Long March-3B rocket at the Xichang Satellite
Launch Center in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province at 9:43 am on June 23.
The full deployment of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) constellation,
accomplished six months ahead of schedule, has come to a successful closure and drawn
worldwide attention.
In a video message, the United Nations (UN) Office for Outer Space Affairs congratulated on the
complete deployment of the BDS constellation, acknowledged the BeiDou system’s role in
promoting the world’s social and economic development, and praised its significant contributions
to the peaceful use of outer space and international cooperation, such as UN activities in outer
space.
The final launch went through twists and turns. Due to the failures of two previous launch
missions, the entire procedure was rechecked for times, and the launch time was postponed from
May to June. Then the launch scheduled for June 16 was delayed again after technical problems
were found in pre-launch tests.
The final satellite is a geosynchronous earth orbit satellite, and will undergo a series of in-orbit
tests before it is commissioned. Comprehensive tests for the entire BDS system will be conducted
to ensure reliable operation and outstanding performances of the system.
Upon the completion of the tests, BDS will provide all-time, all-weather and high-precision
positioning, navigation and timing services for users as well as the services of satellite-based
augmentation, short message communication, precise point positioning and other characteristic
services.
The BDS construction was initiated in 1994. Over the past 26 years, China has conducted 44 BDS
launch missions at Xichang Satellite Launch Center. By using launch vehicles of Long March-3A
series, the country has launched 4 BDS-1 experimental satellites, 55 BDS-2 and BDS-3
constellation satellites into predetermined orbits without failure.
It is worth noting that an intensive campaign of 18 launch missions was carried out within two and
a half years since the global constellation deployment started in 2017.
Facing the challenging task of fighting against the COVID-19 outbreak this year, the entire BDS
team has been working tirelessly on both frontlines – the constellation deployment and the
epidemic control and prevention, and secured the final victory in the BDS global constellation
deployment.
With strong support from telemetry, track and command, ground operation, inter-satellite link
management, application validation and other subsystems, all in-orbit satellites previously
launched have been commissioned.
The past three decades and more have witnessed the explorations and practices of three
generations of devoted BeiDou engineers, who have gone through a whole process including
program demonstration, implementation, dual-satellite positioning service, regional constellation
deployment, and global coverage provision.
Relying on themselves, they have blazed a trail of innovation and self-transcendence, and
succeeded in building BDS, an aerospace system that has the largest scale, the vastest coverage,
the highest service standard and the closest relevance to daily life of the people in the history of
China.
The BDS is also the first major Chinese aerospace infrastructure that provides public services
worldwide. As China’s great contributions to the development of global satellite navigation, it has
provided more options for the people around the world with better and more precise spatial and
temporal services, and gained valuable experience for the modernization of China’s major
scientific and technological program management.
Today, BDS is used in more than half of the countries in the world. It will continue to participate
in international satellite navigation affairs, push forward the multi-system compatibility and
sharing, carry out international exchanges and cooperation, promote its international applications
according to the needs of the global users, and share the latest BDS development achievements.
By 2035, China will build a more advanced, ubiquitous, integrated and more intelligent
comprehensive positioning, navigation and timing system, which will offer more powerful
abilities for spatial and temporal information services, and make greater contributions to the
further exploration of mankind.
The BDS satellite and the launch vehicle for this mission were developed by China Academy of
Space Technology (CAST) and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT)
respectively. Both institutions are affiliated to China Aerospace Science and Technology
Corporation. This was the 336 th flight of the Long March launch vehicles.
