China launched a new satellite Wednesday toward an orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth, marking another step in building the country's own space navigation system. The Beidou satellite launched at 1553 GMT on a Long March 3C rocket from the Xichang space center in Sichuan area in southwestern China, where it was just before midnight.
Powered by three stages and two strap-on boosters, the 180-foot-tall rocket turned east from Xichang and deployed the Beidou navigation satellite into a geosynchronous transfer course, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. Engines on the satellite will further lift its altitude in the next few weeks, and the craft will eventually slide into a parking slot 22,300 miles over the equator to covers the Asia-Pacific region.
The satellite is the fourth spacecraft to be launch in the second-generation Beidou constellation. Two previous satellites were located in geosynchronous orbit, including the system's newest member launched in January. Another spacecraft is operating in an orbit about 13,000 mile above Earth.
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