China launches high-orbit Beidou-3 satellite

China's home-grown global satellite navigation system came to a step closer to completion with the launch of another BeiDou-3 satellite at 23:57 Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in the southwestern Sichuan Province. Launched on a Long March-3B carrier rocket, the satellite is the 41st of the BeiDou navigation system and will work with 16 other Beidou-3 satellites already in orbit. It is also the first BeiDou-3 satellite in high orbit, about 36,000 km above the Earth. In a geostationary orbit, following the Earth's rotation, it will view the same point on Earth continuously.