According to Yang Changfeng, chief designer of Beidou satellite navigation system, the two satellites launched this time belong to the medium-circle earth orbit satellite, which is the 18th and 19th satellites of the Beidou 3 system in China. It belongs to the 42nd and 43th Beidou navigation. satellite. After the satellite launches into orbit, it will conduct on-orbit testing and test evaluation, and conduct network joint adjustment and performance index evaluation with the 17 Beidou-3 navigation satellites previously launched, and open the operation before the end of this year, to the “Belt and Road” countries and The area provides basic navigation services. Since then, the Beidou No. 3 basic system constellation will be successfully completed, and it will take a “key step” for China Beidou to move from domestic to international and from regional to global. The Beidou system has become one of the important achievements China has made in the 40 years of reform and opening up.
According to an expert who asked not to be named, most of the Beidou-3 satellites currently launched are in the medium-earth orbit of more than 20,000 kilometers from the ground, that is, the MEO orbit. This is also the current GPS, “Glonas” and “ The type of track used by the Galileo system is ideal for global networking. The Beidou-3 satellite also includes the Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite and the Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO), which are approximately 36,000 kilometers from the ground.
According to the three-step strategy of the development of China Beidou navigation satellite system, Beidou No. 3 belongs to the third step. The Beidou No. 3 network is networked in three steps according to the simplest system, basic system and global system. In 2009, the Beidou No. 3 project was officially launched. In 2016, the test system was completed. On November 5, 2017, the first satellite launch mission was carried out at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. At the end of March 2018, a minimalist system consisting of eight Beidou navigation satellites was built.
According to the plan, from 2019 to 2020, six Beidou No. 3 MEO satellites, three Beidou No. 3 IGSO satellites and two Beidou No. 3 GEO satellites will be launched. The service will cover the whole world in 2020.