China’s BeiDou system one satellite closer to full operation

China is now one satellite away from completing an orbiting network to rival GPS, with another successful launch in the country’s south on Monday.

The 54th and second-last of the constellation of the BeiDou navigation system was sent into a geostationary orbit by a Long March 3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province, southwest China, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

The report said space engineers overcame complications posed by the coronavirus epidemic to ensure the mission was accomplished.

The last of the 30 BeiDou satellites in the third-generation system is expected to be launched in May, three years after the first one went into orbit.

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