BeiDou Launch May Take Place This Month

March 19, 2015 - By GPS World Staff

News courtesy of the CANSPACE Listserv.

The first satellite in the BeiDou Phase 3 expansion could be launched by the end of March. Apparently, a BeiDou satellite has been shipped to the Xichang launch site, and tracking ships have left port for the open ocean.

Also, a philatelic first-day cover for the launch (a common Chinese practice) has been issued with a March 2015 inscription. This is likely a launch of a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite.

The new BeiDou satellite would be the fifth GNSS satellite planned for launch by the end of the month, joining GPS Block IIF-9 (March 25), Galileo 7 and 8 (March 27) and IRNSS-D (March 29).

Below is the first-day cover.