Final Beidou satellite ready for launch from Xichang center

Beidou began providing positioning, navigation, timing and messaging services to civilian users in China and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012. At the end of 2018, Beidou started to provide global services.

There are 29 third-generation Beidou satellites in three types of orbit－24 in medium-Earth orbits, three in inclined geosynchronous satellite orbits and two in geostationary orbits.

There also are some second-generation Beidou satellites in operation offering regional services.

Compared with the second-generation satellites, the third-generation models feature higher accuracy and stability, a clearer signal and more state-of-the-art technologies such as inter-satellite links, satellite-based augmentation and global emergency search capability, designers said.

According to statistics from the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location-Based Services Association of China, Beidou has been used in dozens of business and public sector fields in China, including transportation, electric power transmission, fisheries, mining and agriculture, and tens of millions of Beidou-based terminal devices have been sold and are in use.