China’s new-generation satellite for global navigation and positioning network is now working in orbit, a statement by the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites (SECM) announced on April 23, Thursday.
The satellite developer said that the navigation equipment on the satellite has begun sending signals which were received on stations on Earth.
The report said that the satellite was sent into orbit on March 31 and drifted westwards until it reached the designated location at 94.45 degrees east longitude on April 15, where it started load testing and signal testing.
According to the developer, the satellite sent the first batch of data to ground stations at 2:18 p.m. on April 21, Tuesday, marking the successful operation of the new-generation satellite in its first step to global expansion.
The spacecraft is China's 17th satellite, another addition to the country's Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS), which is expected to provide substantial expansion to the system's coverage from regional to global service.
Xiangli Bin, the SECM director and chief commander for the new-generation BDS satellite program, said that the latest satellite, which was launched on March 30, is better than its predecessors since it has longer life and can give more accurate information.
China launched its first BDS satellites in 2000 and the system only began providing navigation, positioning, timing and short message services to users in China and parts of the Asia-Pacific region in Dec. 2012.
The BDS global network will have a total of 35 satellites, five of which will be in geostationary orbit.
According to the center, the complete network should be installed and will be fully operational by 2020.