Navigation
BEIDOU-2 M4
Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-2, Regional) · CNSA / China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
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BeiDou-2 M4, launched in 2012, is part of China's second-generation regional navigation system — built in direct response to a 1990s incident that convinced Chinese military planners never to depend on GPS for anything strategically sensitive again. BeiDou-2 provided positioning coverage across Asia-Pacific years before China committed to the far more ambitious BeiDou-3 global constellation, serving as both an operational system and a technical proving ground for the global network that followed.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Medium Earth Orbita high vantage point, ideal for navigation
- Altitude
- 13,356–13,407 mi (21,494–21,576 km)
- Inclination
- 55.6°
- One orbit
- 12.9 hours1.9 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 38251
- Int’l designator
- 2012-018B
- Launched
- 2012
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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