China Launches 5th Compass (Beidou-2) Navigation Satellite — First IGSO

[Inside GNSS Updated August 1, 2010] China's state news agency has reported that the fifth Compass (Beidou-2) satellite — the system's first inclined geostationary orbit (IGSO) spacecraft — was launched successfully at 5:30 a.m. Sunday (August 1 — local time) from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province.

The full Beidou-2 constellation will ultimately include 35 space vehicles: 27 in middle Earth orbit (MEO), 5 GSOs, and 3 IGSOs.