19 September 2018
On 19 September, at 22:07 h local time, the CZ-3B equipped with the Yuanzheng 1 upper stage, launched two Beidou navigation satellites into orbit. The twin satellites are the 37th and 38th editions of the BeiDou navigation system. After a series of tests and evaluations, they will work together with 12 BeiDou-3 satellites already in orbit.
The twin satellites will provide danger alerts and navigation services for global users. A basic system with 18 orbiting BeiDou-3 satellites will be in place by the end of the year, which will serve countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
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