New generation of satellites key to navigation network

China will launch about 30 satellites before the end of 2020 for its domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System, a senior project official said.

Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, told an audience at the Eighth China Satellite Navigation Conference, which opened in Shanghai on Tuesday, that most of the new satellites to be lifted during the coming three and a half years will be third-generation Beidou satellites.

More than 3,000 officials, experts and company representatives from China, the United States, Russia and other nations, as well as international organizations are taking part in the three-day industry conference, one of the largest in the field.