Launch: Chinese Internet via escobar
The LM-11 rocket carrying XPNAV-1 and several other satellites took off on Nov. 10 in northern China, with the mission a success (though some rocket segments landed in Burma).
To support its big plans for deep space exploration, including a manned Lunar mission and the Martian lander, China just launched the world’s first x-ray navigation system. The X-ray Pulsar Navigation 1 (XPNAV 1) satellite, which the country launched on Nov. 10 aboard a solid-fueled Long March 11 rocket from the Jiuquan Space Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, is the world’s first x-ray navigation system to go in orbit, beating out NASA’s Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT), which is scheduled to be installed on the ISS next year.