"The satellites were carried by a Long March 3B rocket that lifted off at 9:14 am from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan province and were deployed into a medium-Earth orbit." This marks the 14th group of third-generation Beidou satellites operating in medium-Earth orbits and is the second batch launched into such an orbit since the Beidou global system was completed, the office confirmed in a news release.

"The two satellites will start formal operation after a period of in-orbit technical verification," it said, "noting that they are equipped with upgraded atomic clock system and new inter-satellite data link."

"In addition to positioning and navigation services, the pair will also demonstrate new technologies to be used on the next-generation Beidou system," according to the release.

The Beidou network is China's largest civilian satellite system and is one of four global satellite navigation systems, joining the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, and the European Union's Galileo systems.

Since the launch of the first satellites in 2000, 64 Beidou satellites, including four experimental models, have been launched via 47 Long March 3 series rockets from Xichang.

Beidou was officially declared operational in July 2020, offering full-scale global services. Currently, over 50 Beidou satellites, including this latest pair, are in active service.

Based on a Xinhua News Agency article

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