NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Beidou-3 M3 & M4

Launch Time
Mon Feb 12, 2018 05:03 UTC

Rocket

Long March 3B/YZ-1
Image Credit: CASC
CASC
Status: Active
Liftoff Thrust: 5,986 kN
Payload to LEO: 12,000 kg
Payload to GTO: 5,550 kg
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 4
Rocket Height: 54.84 m
Fairing Diameter: 4.0 m
Fairing Height: 10.8 m

Mission Details

Beidou-3 M3 & M4

BeiDou-3 will eventually consist of 35 satellites and is expected to provide global services upon completion in 2020. When fully completed, BeiDou will provide an alternative global navigation satellite system to the United States-owned Global Positioning System (GPS) and is expected to be more accurate than the GPS. It was claimed in 2016 that BeiDou-3 will reach millimeter-level accuracy (with post-processing), which is ten times more accurate than the finest level of GPS.

Payloads: 2
Total Mass: 4,500.0 kg
Medium Earth Orbit

Location

LC-2, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China

Stats

2018

18th orbital launch attempt

Long March 3

97th mission
2nd mission of 2018
90th successful mission
4th consecutive successful mission