China has put a new-generation satellite into space to aid with global navigation. Boosted by a Long March 3C carrier rocket, the satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest Sichuan province on Monday.

China has put a new-generation satellite into space to aid with global navigation.

The launch center said the satellite will be testing a new type of navigation signaling and inter-satellite links, providing a basis to build up a global network.

This is the first time China has used a shuttle like craft attached to the launch rocket to set a satellite in orbit. The shuttle is capable of deploying more than one satellite into different orbits in space.

China launched the first BeiDou Navigation Satellite system in 2000. The Beidou system or BDS for short has been providing positioning, navigation and short messaging services to civilian users in China and surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific.

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