In 2020, China will have its own GPS alternative
What's the story
In a matter of months, China will have the competition for the US Global Positioning System (GPS) up and running. The country has announced that its Beidou Navigation Satellite System is nearing completion and will be ready to work after a few more satellite launches in 2020. Here's all you need to know about it.
Service
Beidou Navigation Satellite System for location, navigational services
The Chinese navigational system, when ready, will match, perhaps even surpass, the GPS in providing location, navigation, mapping, tracking, and timing services for air, sea, and land travel. It will work with the help of a constellation of satellites, which China has been constructing over the last few years. Notably, even the US GPS works with a satellite system.
Constellation
Currently, 24 Chinese satellites are in orbit
China recently completed the core of its navigational system by adding a few more satellites into the constellation and taking its total count up to 24. Ran Chengqi, the director of the project, said that this has been one of the most complex space projects for the country but will be completed before June 2020, with the positioning of the final two satellites.
Quote
Here's what Ran told reporters
"Before June 2020, we plan to launch two more satellites into geostationary orbit and the Beidou-3 system will be fully completed," Ran said in a statement to reporters, the Associated Press reported.
Third iteration
This is the third version of Beidou Navigation Satellite System
The work being done here is for the third version of Beidou Navigation Satellite System from China. It will use "high-performance indicators, new technology systems, high localization, mass production networking" to not just outperform the first two Beidou systems but also beat the American GPS, Russian GLONASS or European Galileo systems with an incredible millimeter-level accuracy.
Coverage
Plus, it will have global scale coverage
Before being decommissioned in 2012, the Beidou-1 system offered navigational services in China, while Beidou-2 has been offering services to customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The new, third generation of the system will go far beyond this and offer navigational services on a global scale. Interestingly, the country is also working on a plan to make it smarter and more accessible by 2035.