(Yicai Global) Dec. 17 -- China has launched the final core satellites for its third-generation Beidou navigation system, allowing it to offer global map services.

The 52nd and 53rd Beidou satellites left the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province yesterday, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The crafts hit their 20,000 kilometer orbit in a little more than three hours and will undergo on-orbit tests in future.

Beidou-3 will comprise 30 satellites circling three different orbits: three in geostationary orbit, three in geosynchronous orbit and a core network consisting of 24 in medium earth orbit. The last two satellites for the entire system, both geostationary, will hit the skies in June next year.

The system is the only one in the world combining satellites in three different orbits and can therefore provide higher-quality and more functional services to users in China and other countries, said Wang Ping, Beidou's chief designer.

China launched the first Beidou satellite in 2000 and has since turned the system into a high-precision navigation service with worldwide coverage. It has United Nations approval alongside the US's Global Position System, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

Editor: James Boynton