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BEIDOU-3 M18
Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-3) · CNSA / China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
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BeiDou-3 M18, launched alongside BeiDou-3 M17 in 2018, contributed to the final satellites needed for BeiDou-3's global completion. The finished 30-satellite constellation gave China navigation infrastructure genuinely independent of the United States, Russia, and Europe simultaneously — the strategic outcome Chinese military planners had been working toward since the 1990s missile test that started the entire BeiDou program. With BeiDou-3 now complete, China's positioning, navigation, and timing infrastructure sits fully independent of GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo alike — a strategic outcome two and a half decades in the making since the 1990s missile test that convinced Chinese planners to build it in the first place.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Medium Earth Orbita high vantage point, ideal for navigation
- Altitude
- 13,369–13,394 mi (21,515–21,556 km)
- Inclination
- 54.2°
- One orbit
- 12.9 hours1.9 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 43707
- Int’l designator
- 2018-093B
- Launched
- 2018
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 21 Sep 2026.
More navigation
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- BEIDOU-3 M21Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-3)
- BEIDOU-3 M22Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-3)
- BEIDOU-3 M23Chinese Navigation Satellite (BeiDou-3)