Hello all,
China on early Saturday morning launched a navigation satellite, part
of the country's
"Compass" navigational system, which is expected to provide services to
customers all
over China and neighboring countries by 2008.
The carrier rocket, Long March 3-A, blasted off from Xichang Satellite
Launch Center in
southwest China's Sichuan Province at 4:11 a.m., and sources with the center
said that
the satellite had "accurately" entered its orbit, at the height of 21,500
km.
As far as I know, China has sent 4 Beidou (compass) navigation
satellites, they are all
geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites. They were sent in space on Oct.
31, 2000,
Dec. 21, 2000, May 25, 2003 and Feb. 3, 2007respectively. This one is the
first medium
Earth orbit (MEO) satellite. I guess, it is similar with GPS or Galileo
satellites.
details refer to
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/14/content_5974414.htm
Galileo is too slow.
Binghao Li
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