BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Tuesday successfully put into orbit the final satellite of its Beidou navigation network, rival to the U.S.-owned GPS.
The mission was originally set for June 16, but was cancelled at the last minute due to technical problems detected during pre-launch tests of the Long March-3B carrier rocket.
The Beidou-3 satellite is the 35th and final satellite of the Chinese navigation system – an estimated $10 billion project meant to be Beijing’s answer to the U.S.-owned Global Positioning System (GPS).
(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Se Young Lee and Colin Qian; Editing by Tom Hogue)
