The last BeiDou navigation satellite to launch in next few days

China's GPS replacement is taking shape as the last satellite in the 30-satellite navigation system will be launched in a few days.

China Satellite Navigation Office made the announcement on Sunday.

The satellite will be launched from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center by a Long March-3A rocket. It has been resting in the center for about two months.

China has been working to replace GPS, a U.S. product, since about two decades ago. A total of 59 satellites and three generations have been put into use and the current one, the BeiDou-3, is said to be better than GPS in messaging capacity and accuracy.

The BeiDou system originally serves only China and has since expanded to global coverage. Most smartphones with Qualcomm Snapdragon chips are using the Chinese satellites to navigate, along with U.S., Russian, the EU and sometimes Japanese products.

(All photos by Ning Hong, CGTN)