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BEIDOU-3 M17
Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-3) · CNSA / China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
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BeiDou-3 M17, launched in 2018, is part of the final push toward BeiDou-3's complete 30-satellite global constellation. China formally declared the global BeiDou-3 system fully operational in July 2020, roughly 26 years after the program's initial 1994 conception — a genuinely patient, multi-decade national infrastructure commitment that outlasted several changes in China's own broader space strategy along the way. China's formal July 2020 declaration that BeiDou-3 had reached full global operational status came almost exactly 26 years after the program's original 1994 conception — a rare example of a major national infrastructure project actually reaching its ultimate ambition, even if considerably later than first planned.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Medium Earth Orbita high vantage point, ideal for navigation
- Altitude
- 13,367–13,396 mi (21,513–21,558 km)
- Inclination
- 54.2°
- One orbit
- 12.9 hours1.9 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 43706
- Int’l designator
- 2018-093A
- Launched
- 2018
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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