Beidou-2 M5 & M6

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

19:10:00

Tuesday September 18, 2012

Mission Details

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Beidou-2 M5 & M6

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BeiDou-2 (formerly known as COMPASS) is a constellation of navigation satellites. It is not an extension of the older BeiDou-1 but rather supersedes it outright. The new system will be a constellation of 35 satellites, which include 5 geostationary orbit satellites for backward compatibility with BeiDou-1, and 30 non-geostationary satellites (27 in medium Earth orbit and 3 in inclined geosynchronous orbit), that will offer complete coverage of the globe.

Medium Earth Orbit

2 Payloads

4,600 kilograms

Rocket

Active
Long March 3B/E

Active Since 2007

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo

Agency

CASC

Price

$29.15 million

Rocket

Height: 56.3m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 11,500 kg

GTO: 5,550 kg

Liftoff Thrust

5,986 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 4.2m

Height: 9.56m

Stages

3

Strap-ons

4

Launch Site

LC-2

Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China

Fastest Turnaround

18 days

Stats

Long March 3


67th

Mission

7th

Mission of 2012

2012


52nd

Orbital launch attempt