A huge week for satnav as both China and Europe make generational launches

Two of the world's satellite positioning service constellations reached important milestones this week, after the European Space Agency and China's Satellite Navigation Office each launched its own pair of satellites.

Europe's sats were carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that left Florida's Kennedy Space Center on September 18. A day later, China's birds rode a Long March 3B that launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

China's sats were the 63rd and 64th members of its Beidou constellation, which currently has 50 operating satellites.

This pair were the last of China's third-generation navigation-sat design. Local media reported that the two satellites are spares in case others falter, and that they include some tech that is expected to be included in fourth-gen sats.

Government organ China Daily quoted Beidou's chief planner Yang Changfeng as saying the next-gen sats will be "omnipresent, smarter and more integrated," and mentioned that when the upgrade is completed in 2035 "there will be Beidou service not only on land and sea, but also in the sky, outer space and deep within the oceans."

China is known to have ambitions to colonize the Moon, and to mine resources in the deep ocean. Maybe Beidou 4.0 will help those plans.

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Europe's launch delivered the 31st and 32nd members of its Galileo constellation into space.

"With the deployment of these two satellites, Galileo completes its constellation as designed, reaching the required operational satellites plus one spare per orbital plane," proclaimed ESA director of navigation Javier Benedicto.

Europe plans to launch another six Galileo sats during 2025, using the Ariane 6 launcher that the European Space Agency recently flew for the first time.

Second-gen Galileo sats are already being built using a design that features electric propulsion, an enhanced navigation antenna, and "fully digital payloads being designed to be easily reconfigured in orbit, enabling them to actively respond to the evolving needs of users with novel signals and services." ®