China launches pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1

China today successfully launched a navigation satellite which will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies. The X-ray pulsar navigation satellite — XPNAV-1 — weighing more than 200 kilogrammes, was sent skyward at 7:42 AM (local time) atop a Long March 11 solid-fuelled rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s northwest. The satellite operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit and will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies, state-run China Daily reported. It was carried by a Long March-11 rocket, the 239th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket series. More

(Source: The Indian Express - Nov 11)