A burning booster which fell to Earth in Guangxi from the Long March 3B launch on January 12, 2018.
8.02.2018
China to loft Beidou satellite pair on Sunday with seventh space launch of 2018
China will launch a pair of satellites for its Beidou navigation system on Sunday, with a Long March 3B rocket being readied to carry the duo from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre to medium Earth orbit.
Launch from the site in the hills of the southwestern province of Sichuan is expected to take place on February 11, with airspace closures indicating that liftoff will take place around 13:10 local time (05:10 UTC, 00:10 ET).
The satellites will be the 28th and 29th for the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) which is China's own version of the Global Positioning System (GPS) developed by the United States.
The launch will also already be China's seventh of 2018, with the country potentially set to attempt around 40 missions, including government and commercial launches, with the return-to-flight of the Long March 5 and the Chang'e-4 lunar far side mission as highlights.
This will also be the second launch of Beidou satellites in 2018, with a previous duo of satellites launched to medium Earth orbit on January 11.
That mission was noted for a booster from the Long March 3B launch vehiclefalling close to a village in Guangxi, with startling footage being captured by locals, and some even approaching the toxic and flaming wreckage.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Group (CASC), the main contractor for the space programme, says it will aim to launch up to 18 Beidou satellites by the end of 2018, most of them in pairs.
Typical preparations for a Long March 3B launch of Beidou satellites from Xichang can be seen in the video below.
Preparations and launch of China's Beidou-3 M1 and M2 satellites from Xichang on November 5, 2017.
China's Beidou navigation system
Beidou is China’s own Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), designed to remove reliance on and rival America's GPS, as well as Russia’s GLONASS and Europe’s Galileo constellations.
As well as civilian applications such as navigation for shipping and road traffic, and mapping and surveying, Beidou will provide the People's Liberation Army assistance from space in targeting, positioning and locating, and synchronising operations.
The system is also being touted as an important part of the Belt and Road initiative, providing coverage to countries involved in the signature project of Chinese president Xi Jinping.
The satellites to be launched are part of the third phase of deployment of Beidou satellites, which will allow the system - which currently offers regional coverage - to provide services globally by 2020.
A Beidou satellite inside the payload fairing ready for stacking at Xichang in 2016.
The satellites are based on a new satellite bus that features a phased array antenna for navigation signals and a laser retroreflector, with a launch mass 1,014 kg, according to Nasaspaceflight.com.
The accuracy, stability and signal strength of the Beidou-3 satellites is improved over previous versions by developments in atomic clocks, laser communications and inter-satellite links.
Lei Fanpei, chairman of CASC, said late last year that the construction of the 35-satellite navigation system – with five in geosynchronous orbit, three in inclined geosynchronous orbits, and 27 in lower, medium Earth orbits - is to be completed by 2020.
An illustration demonstrating a number of civil and military uses for Beidou GNSS.
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