15日零时16分，我国在西昌卫星发射中心用“长征三号丙”运载火箭，成功将第二颗北斗导航卫星送入预定轨道。这次发射的北斗导航卫星，是北斗卫星导航系统（COMPASS，中文音译名称Bei Dou）建设计划中的第二颗组网卫星，它是我国空间基础设施的重要组成部分，可提供高精度的导航和定位服务。

China has successfully launched the country's second navigation satellite. Wednesday's launch is part of the country's efforts to develop an independent global satellite navigation system.

The carrier rocket --Long March 3-C -- blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

The system is code named "COMPASS". It will be a crucial part of China's space infrastructure, providing navigation and positioning services for various sectors. Among them transportation, meteorology, petroleum and prospecting.

But it will also be used for monitoring forest fire and forecasting disasters as well as for telecommunications and public security. The evolving system will also bring significant social and economic benefits.

It will enable authorized users to know their location at any time and place with accurate longitude, latitude and altitude data.

It will also offer "safer" positioning, as well as velocity and timing data. The successful launch of the geo-stationary Earth orbit satellite puts into orbit a second Chinese navigation satellite that is independent of foreign technology. China launched the first "Compass" navigation satellite into geostationary orbit two years ago.