The carrier rocket, Long March 3-A, blasted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 4:11 a.m., and sources with the center said that the satellite had "accurately" entered its orbit, at the height of 21,500 km.

The "Compass" navigational system is mainly designed for the country's economic development, providing navigation and positioning services in transportation, meteorology, petroleum prospecting, forest fire monitoring, disaster forecast, telecommunications and public security, among others.

With more satellites to be sent into orbits in coming years, the system will cover China and its neighboring countries by 2008,before being expanded into a global network of navigation and positioning.

On February 3, China successfully put a test "Compass" satellite into the orbit, the fourth of such experimental satellites launched since 2000.

China is one of the few countries that are capable of developing navigation satellite system on its own. Previous reports said it will provide clients with positioning accuracy within 10 meters, velocity accuracy with 0.2 meter per second and timing accuracy within 50 nanoseconds.

The system includes at least 35 satellites, five geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and 30 medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, according to previous reports.

The satellite and carrier rocket were developed respectively by the China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which are under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The launch represents the 97th flight of China's Long March series of rockets.