A Long March-3A carrier rocket carrying the 22nd satellite in the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 30, 2016. China launched a satellite to support its global navigation and positioning network at 4:11 a.m. Wednesday.

Photo is courtesy of Xinhua/Wang Yulei.

[Satnews] Being reported by Chinese news agency Xinhua is that a Long March-3A carrier rocket has carried the 22nd satellite in the nation's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) to orbit.

The satellite lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwest Sichuan Province on March 30, 2016. China launched this satellite to support their global navigation and positioning network at 4:11 a.m. Wednesday. This was the 225th launch of the Long March carrier rocket.

The satellite, after entering its designed work orbit and completing on orbit testing, will join the other satellites in the BeiDou constellation that are already in orbit to improve the stability of the system, all in prepartion for BDS to offer global coverage.