China has launched a new version of its military Beidou navigation satellite series – dubbed the Beidou 3-M1. The satellite appears to have been launched into an inclined Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) of 36,000km altitude as part of the Beidou constellation in GEO . The rocket used to launch the craft was a Long March 3C launch vehicle using an additional brand new fourth stage called, according to spaceflight analyst Jonathan McDowell, the Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1). The stage uses UDMH/N2O4 storable propellants and has a 6.5 kN engine. The launch took place from the Xichang launch site in China at 1352 GMT on 29 March 2015.
Comment by Phil Hylands: Significantly, China has changed the navigation frequency of Beidou satellites to be the same as GPS and Galileo frequencies. Therefore, it will make Chinese navigation systems compatible with them, giving them greater accuracy.
