China will launch another 11 BeiDou-3 satellites by the end of 2018.

 

到2018年底，中国还将发射11颗北斗三号卫星。

 

China has already launched eight BeiDou-3 satellites. The satellites will provide initial services for countries and regions along the Belt and Road by the end of the year, said Wang Li, chairman of China Satellite Navigation System Committee.

 

Addressing the Ninth China Satellite Navigation Conference in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Wang said the BeiDou system is moving to become a global service provider after offering stable and reliable time and space information for clients in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

China launched the first two BeiDou-3 satellites into space via a single carrier rocket in November 2017, as its self-developed BeiDou system officially began to expand into a global network.

 

Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper constellation¹, the BeiDou project was formally initiated² in 1994. It began to serve China in 2000 and the Asia-Pacific region at the end of 2012.

 

By around 2020, when the BeiDou system goes global, it will have more than 30 satellites.

点击收听单词发音