China launches another two Beidou navigation satellites

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China launches another two Beidou navigation satellites

Source:Globaltimes.cn Published: 2012-9-19 14:19:00

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More Information:
China's Beidou system starts service in Asian-Pacific
Two more satellites launched for GPS

	China launches another two satellites for independent navigation system China successfully launched another two satellites into space for its indigenous global navigation and positioning network at 3:10 am Beijing time September 19, 2012. They were the 14th and 15th satellites for the Beidou, or Compass, system. The satellites, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, were boosted by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

China launches another two satellites for independent navigation system

China successfully launched another two satellites into space for its indigenous global navigation and positioning network at 3:10 am Beijing time September 19, 2012.

They were the 14th and 15th satellites for the Beidou, or Compass, system. The satellites, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, were boosted by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

Development of China's Satellite Navigation System

China began to build its Beidou Navigation Satellite System in 2000 with a goal of breaking its dependence on the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and creating its own global positioning system by 2020.
Satellite	Date	System
Beidou-1A	October 31, 2000	Beidou-1
Beidou-1B	December 21, 2000
Beidou-1C	May 25, 2003
Beidou-1D	February 3, 2007
Beidou-1 can not meet growing demand, so China decided to set up a more functional Beidou-2 regional and global navigation system
Compass-M1	April 14, 2007	Beidou-2
Compass-G2	April 15, 2009
Compass-G1 China launches new orbiter	January 17, 2010
Compass-G3	June 2, 2010
Compass-IGSO1	August 1, 2010
Compass-G4	November 1, 2010
Compass-IGSO2	December 18, 2010
Compass-IGSO3	June 10, 2011
Compass-IGSO4	July 27, 2011
Compass-IGSO5 China launches 10th satellite for independent navigation system	December 2, 2011
China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System officially went into service on December 27, 2011, signaling a reduced dependency on the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and the arrival of a possible future market rival. More
Compass-G5 China launches 11th satellite for independent navigation system	February 25, 2012
Compass-M3/Compass-M4	April 30, 2012
Compass-M5/Compass-M6 China launches another two satellites for independent navigation system	September 19, 2012
Chinese navigation system to cover Asia-Pacific this year Home-bred Beidou Satellite Navigation System (Beidou), will first cover the Asia-Pacific region in 2012, and spread on to global coverage by 2020, said Sun Jiadong, academician and chief designer of the Beidou project.

Source: Beidou.gov.cn

Application

An illustration to the function of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System. Photo:Beidou.gov.cn	The system has been used in transportation, weather forecasting, marine fisheries, forestry, telecommunications, hydrological monitoring and mapping. The Beidou-1 system made its public debut in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Disaster relief troops used terminals in the ruins of Wenchuan to get real-time whereabouts and communicate with their superiors. As of October 2009, all Chinese border guards in Yunnan are equipped with BeiDou-1 devices. A total of 10,000 government cars in Guangdong Province were required to be equipped with the Beidou navigation satellite system before August 31, 2011 for better supervision and management, the Southern Daily reported. Source: Xinhua

An illustration to the function of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System. Photo:Beidou.gov.cn

The system has been used in transportation, weather forecasting, marine fisheries, forestry, telecommunications,
hydrological monitoring and mapping.

The Beidou-1 system made its public debut in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Disaster relief troops used terminals in the ruins of Wenchuan to get real-time whereabouts and communicate with their superiors.

As of October 2009, all Chinese border guards in Yunnan are equipped with BeiDou-1 devices.

A total of 10,000 government cars in Guangdong Province were required to be equipped with the Beidou navigation satellite system before August 31, 2011 for better supervision and management, the Southern Daily reported.

Source: Xinhua

Competitors

Its competitors include the world-leading GPS system, Russia's GLONASS system, which is also ready for service, and Europe's Galileo, which is still under development.
GPS	GLONASS	Galileo
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.	GLONASS is a radio-based satellite navigation system operated for the Russian government by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces.	Galileo is a satellite navigation system currently being built by the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA).

Importance

More than 5,000 Chinese firms and organizations were now involved in the application and services of satellite navigation and the industry generated more than 50 billion yuan of output value in 2010, according a report published by the Social Sciences Academic Press. More

Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, did not shed light on Beidou's possible military uses, but said without an independently established and operated navigation satellite system, China would lack a reliable safeguard for its economic and social development.

He noted that the Beidou system will highlight China's status as a great nation and reflect its comprehensive national power. More

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