A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying a new-generation Beidou satellite lifts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 30, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)
(ECNS) - China has more than 140 satellites operating stably in orbit, second only to the U.S., according to a senior engineer.
Tian Yulong, chief engineer at the National Defense Science and Industry Bureau, said that satellites have been widely applied in China's economic activities, environmental protection, disaster prevention, and emerging industries. Chinese satellites cover more than 10 million remote sensing data distributions and 30 million satellite TV broadcast users.
China's Bedou is the third internationally recognized navigation system, behind GPS and Russia's Glonass.
Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said that Beidou has already been applied in the regional network, and is expected to cover most countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road by 2018, and offer global coverage by 2020.
China will bolster the application of satellites to expand its use in communications, navigation and remote sensing in the next five years, and improve its integration with Internet services such as big data and clouding computing.
