China launches 56th BeiDou navigation satellite after 3.5 years

The 56th satellite for China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has been launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday, reported CGTN news. This is the first BeiDou launch since 2020. On  July 31, 2020, the first BeiDou satellite was launched, and the system provided full-scale global services. In 2020, China launched its final satellite in its Beidou constellation that emulates and may seek to compete with the U.S. Global Positioning System, marking a further step in the country’s advance as a major space power, reported Associated Press. 

China on Wednesday sent a new #BeiDou navigation satellite into space.

The #satellite, designed to enter geostationary earth orbit, is the 56th of the BeiDou family and also the first backup satellite for the country's BeiDou-3 #Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3). pic.twitter.com/TllP7aG3FD

— China SCIO (@chinascio) May 18, 2023

The 56th satellite of China launched

According to the CGTN news, the Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellite would be the first backup satellite of the BDS-3 and would be connected to the system after completing in-orbit tests. The new satellite has achieved on-orbit thermal backup of existing geostationary orbit satellites, and would further improve the system's service performance, including enhancing availability and robustness, increasing the capacity of short message communication of the system by one-third, and improving location services. Moreover, the mission has been marked as the 473rd flight of the Long March carrier rockets, reported Xinhua news agency. China has been planning to send one to three backup satellites for BDS year to improve the stability and usability of the constellation, as per the 13th China Satellite Navigation Conference held last month. Earlier, China launched the satellite onboard a Long March-3 rocket from the satellite launch base of Xichang which was also broadcasted live, according to an AP report. The satellite was deployed in orbit and extended its solar panels to provide energy. The first version of Beidou, meaning “Big Dipper”, has been decommissioned in 2012. Further, the future plans call for a smarter, more accessible and integrated system with Beidou at its core, to come online by 2035, said the system’s chief designer Yang Changfeng.