NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Beidou-2 M5 & M6

Launch Time
Tue Sep 18, 2012 19:10 UTC

Rocket

Long March 3B/E
Image Credit: CASC
CASC
Status: Active
Price: $29.15 million
Liftoff Thrust: 5,986 kN
Payload to LEO: 11,500 kg
Payload to GTO: 5,550 kg
Stages: 3
Strap-ons: 4
Rocket Height: 56.3 m
Fairing Diameter: 4.2 m
Fairing Height: 9.56 m

Mission Details

Beidou-2 M5 & M6

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.

Payloads: 2
Total Mass: 4,600.0 kg
Medium Earth Orbit

Location

LC-2, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China

Stats

2012

52nd orbital launch attempt

Long March 3

67th mission
7th mission of 2012
61st successful mission
24th consecutive successful mission