(Photos: Liang Keyan)

China sent two Beidou navigation satellites into orbit on a Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in the southwestern Sichuan Province, at 9:48 a.m. Sunday.

The twin satellites are the 33rd and 34th of the BeiDou navigation system. They entered orbit more than three hours after the launch. After a series of tests, they will work together with eight BeiDou-3 satellites already in orbit, said the launch service provider.

A basic system with 18 BeiDou-3 satellites orbiting will be in place by the year end, which will serve countries participating in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper, the BeiDou system started serving China in 2000 and the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. It will be the 4th global satellite navigation system after the U.S. GPS system, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

(With input from Xinhua)