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China launches 8th satellite for global navigation
Updated: 2011-04-10 17:34
(Xinhua)
XICHANG, Sichuan - China early Sunday morning successfully launched its eighth orbiter which will form part of its indigenous satellite-navigation and -positioning network.
A Long March-3A carrier rocket carrying the "Beidou," or Compass, navigation satellite took off at 4:47 am Sunday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan province.
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The launching of the satellite marks the establishment of a basic system for the navigation and positioning network, said an unidentified spokesperson for the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
China will launch more satellites within the coming two years to finish a regional network to provide navigation services with high precision and credibility for industries and sectors such as mapping, fishery, transportation, meteorology and telecommunication, in the Asia-Pacific regions, the spokesperson said.
The network is scheduled to be able to provide global services by 2020.
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