China's GPS - Beidou

[selvaarchi]

"China's satellite navigation industry sees rapid development"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._138061197.htm

China's satellite navigation and location services industry achieved a total output value of 301.6 billion yuan (about 43.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 18.3 percent from the previous year, according to an annual industry report.

The data was published in the White Paper on the Development of China's Satellite Navigation and Location Services Industry (2019), which was released by the GNSS (global navigation satellite system) and LBS (location-based service) Association of China on Wednesday.

[selvaarchi]

The present BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is made up of a mixture of BDS-2 and BDS-3 satellites. By October 2020 it will be all BDS-3 satellites giving more accuracy and reliability, as well as global coverage.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._138067566.htm

The BDS-2 system has provided stable and reliable service since it went into operation, and its positioning accuracy has improved from 10 meters to six meters.

The BDS-2 system and BDS-3 system will jointly provide services before October 2020, and after that the BDS-3 system will be the main force.

[selvaarchi]

"China to complete BeiDou-3 satellite system by 2020"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._138119405.htm

China's BeiDou-3 system, a global geolocation network, is expected to be completed in 2020, with a total of 35 satellites, researchers at a conference on the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) said.

China has deployed three systems, BDS-1, BDS-2 and BDS-3, to provide accurate positioning and navigation services to the world, said Jin Shuanggen, a researcher at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the second China (Nanjing) BeiDou Satellite Navigation Application Expo and Beidou Summit Forum.

"Traditional satellites navigation service is hardly available in the interior of buildings, underground, underwater and other locations. The BDS system provides better accuracy in these locations," Jin said.

[selvaarchi]

China inches closer to complete their version of GPS.

https://spacenews.com/china-launches...gation-system/

A Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 2:09 p.m. Eastern Monday, sending a Beidou satellite toward an inclined geosynchronous orbit.

The launch occurred within a window indicated by the issuance of an airspace closure notice days earlier. Spectator footage provided the first indication of liftoff, with mission success announced by a media arm of the People’s Liberation Army just over an hour after launch.

The mission involved the 21st satellite of the Beidou-3 rollout and the second to be placed in an inclined geosynchronous orbit.

[selvaarchi]

"Galileo system’s woes may provide opening for China’s BeiDou"

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1157850.shtml

The breakdown of the Galileo navigation satellite system over the weekend has triggered users' concern about the service, and it could bring opportunities to China's navigation satellites to serve European clients, analysts said.

The entire Galileo system suffered an unexpected signal outage beginning on Thursday, July 11 at 1 am Coordinated Universal Time, (9 am Beijing time).

A note posted on gsc-europa.eu, the official website of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency, showed that 22 of the 24 satellites remain "not usable" as of press time, and the status of only two satellites was shown as "testing."

The signal outage has persisted for more than three days and as yet no word has been given on the cause or how long the outage will last.

"It is a breakdown of the entire system," an anonymous insider who is close to the navigating system told the Global Times on Sunday. "Although the system is still in the initial stage, it is the first time to see such a big incident lasting for such a long time," he added.

More news on the Galileo outage.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/15/...s-major-outage

The European Union's satellite navigation system, Galileo, has been down for four days due to a technical incident on the ground, the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) said on Sunday.

As of Monday morning, 24 of the 26 satellites in Galileo's constellation are still "not usable", according to the GSA's system status.


The GSA has so far provided little information for the major outage, which started on Thursday, with the agency saying at the time that "the signals may not be available nor meet the minimum performance levels."

It then told service users on Saturday that "the cause of the technical incident is identified" and on Sunday revealed that the incident is "related to its ground infrastructure."

"Experts are working to restore the situation as soon as possible. An Anomaly Review Board has been immediately set up to analyse the exact root cause and to implement recovery actions," it added.

[selvaarchi]

"China's Beidou system enhances life standards"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20190...056401374.html

The Beidou system, a satellite navigation system independently innovated and operated in China, is leading Chinese citizens to a better life with its significant roles in agriculture, transportation and disaster relief, according to a report from Xinhua.

It has been applied in key national industries and the mass consumer field, an official at the 10th China Satellite Navigation Annual Conference said. The first beneficiary is China’s agricultural development.

“There was no satellite navigation in the 1950s. People would farm little by little with pickaxes,” said Peng Rongjun, head of a State-owned farm in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province.

However, the introduction of the Beidou system has changed everything: Not only have manual efforts been saved, but work efficiency has improved.

Now the positioning precision has improved to 2.5 centimeters, and the average daily volume of a single agricultural machine has achieved a remarkable leap to 30 percent more than that of traditional ways.

[selvaarchi]

"Number of China's in-orbit BeiDou satellites reaches 39"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._138367830.htm

China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), a global geolocation network, currently has 39 in-orbit satellites and is expected to be completed in 2020, authorities said Wednesday.

At present, the BDS, independently constructed and operated by China, has officially provided RNSS (Radio Navigation Satellite System) services worldwide, with a total of 39 in-orbit satellites, after high-density launches of BeiDou-3 since 2017, said Yang Jun, deputy director of China's Satellite Navigation System Management Office, at a two-day conference on aerospace technology innovation in Shanghai, which concluded on Thursday.

China plans to send five to seven BDS satellites into space this year and two to four in 2020, which will help fully complete the BDS global network.

[selvaarchi]

China hopes to complete construction of its BeDou system by June next year - 6 months ahead of schedule.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2019-10-22/d...q8045996.shtml

hina will possibly launch all BeiDou-3 satellites to complete the global network of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System into space by the end of June, about half a year ahead of schedule, according to a top system official.

Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said recently that he was very confident that all BeiDou-3 satellites will be launched into space by the end of June to complete the constellation system half a year earlier.

Ran made the remarks at the first China-Central Asia BeiDou Cooperation Forum, a sideline event of the seventh China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum that kicked off in Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Friday.

[selvaarchi]

With two more launches in March and May, China's GPS equivalent (BeDou) will be complete.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2020-02-25/d...r0579817.shtml

Construction of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System will be finished in May through the deployment of the last third-generation Beidou satellite, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

The office said in a statement sent to China Daily on Monday that it will conduct two Long March 3B carrier rocket launches, one in March and the other in May, at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province to send the last two third-generation Beidou satellites into geostationary orbit.

[selvaarchi]

"Beijing to beef up support for Beidou-related industry"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...21727c9d3.html

The Beijing municipal government has released a three-year plan to promote the innovation and development of industries related to the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

Beijing will foster breakthroughs in key and core technologies, and create a sound ecology for Beidou-related industries via cultivating competitive enterprises, according to the plan.

The total output value of the Beidou navigation and location service industry in Beijing will exceed 100 billion yuan (about $14.4 billion) by 2022, it said. Beijing will also build an innovation center for Beidou-related industries with global influence and set up a standard application system.

Beijing will set up seven major demonstration projects to promote the application of the Beidou system in smart transportation, environment protection and intelligent logistics, according to the plan.

[selvaarchi]

China is one launch away from completing their BeiDou system.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._138859838.htm

China launched a new satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 7:55 p.m. Monday (Beijing Time), only one step away from completing the whole global system.

The satellite, the 54th of the BeiDou family, was sent into a geostationary orbit as planned by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

China began to construct its navigation system, named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper constellation, in the 1990s and started serving the Asia-Pacific Region in 2012. At present, all the first generation BDS-1 satellites have ended operations, and a total of 54 BDS-2 and BDS-3 satellites have been sent into space.

Compared with other navigation systems in the world, the design of the BDS constellation is unique, including medium earth orbit, inclined geosynchronous earth orbit and geostationary earth orbit satellites.

[selvaarchi]

"Beidou navigation system plays major role in many Chinese products"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...241156906.html

By the end of 2019, Chinese products based on the Beidou Navigation Satellite System had been sold to more than 120 foreign countries and regions, playing a helpful role in a number of public sectors, according to a white paper published on Monday in Beijing.

The 2020 White Paper on the Development of China's Satellite Navigation and Positioning Industries, compiled by the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location-Based Services Association of China, said that as of the end of last year, the domestically-developed Beidou system had been used in land-ownership investigation, smart agriculture and intelligent construction, as well as other businesses in Asia, Europe and Africa.

The white paper also noted Beidou is being used in dozens of businesses and public service sectors in China, such as transportation, electric power, fisheries, mining and agriculture.

The overall value of satellite-enabled navigation and positioning services in China in 2019 was 345 billion yuan ($48.5 billion), with a 14.4-percent increase year-on-year.

[selvaarchi]

"China tests inter-satellite links of BeiDou navigation system"

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/202...x1202247.shtml

The Xi'an Satellite Control Center's tests have shown links among the satellites of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) are stable to ensure that the constellation can be completed as scheduled.

The tests showed that the inter-satellite links meet the demands of the construction of the global system, said Yuan Yong, a senior engineer from the control center.

He said that the tests, lasting for more than two years, covered 29 satellites of the BDS-3 system.

Since the ground stations in China cannot continuously track and control all the BDS satellites, the inter-satellite links help establish communication among them. Instructions sent by the control center to one satellite in the constellation is transmitted to all.

[selvaarchi]

"China's BeiDou navigation enables smarter agricultural production"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139126575.htm

China-developed BeiDou navigation technology has made agricultural production smarter and more precise.

Nanjing Agricultural University has developed the BeiDou-tech-supported unmanned wheat seeding and harvesting technology, empowering agricultural production with advanced navigation technology, according to the university.

The new wheat production technology is a significant part of smart wheat production technology, according to Tian Yongchao, deputy director with the smart agriculture institute of Nanjing Agricultural University.

The smart wheat production technology integrates BeiDou navigation technology, information technology and agricultural engineering into the whole process of wheat production.

[selvaarchi]

"China set to complete network rivalling GPS in global navigation"

https://www.iol.co.za/technology/gad...ation-49303002

The Chinese Beidou navigation network will be complete this month when its final satellite goes into orbit, giving China greater independence from U.S.-owned GPS and heating up competition in a sector long dominated by the United States.

The idea to develop Beidou, or the Big Dipper in Chinese, took shape in the 1990s as the military sought to reduce reliance on the Global Positioning System (GPS) run by the U.S. Air Force.

[selvaarchi]

On line live coverage of the BeiDou launch

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...msg2096290#new

Live: China launches of BeiDou system's last satellite

[selvaarchi]

You do not get this very often - "you can choose the main stream or one of 6 camera angles pointed at the pad"

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...601#msg2096601

Well, from the usual lack of livestreams in Chinese launches, to 6 switchable live views, the difference is stark

[selvaarchi]

nasaspaceflight has a history of China's BieDou develoment,

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020...long-march-3b/

The Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has been independently constructed, developed and operated by China taking into account the needs of the country’s national security, economic and social development. As a space infrastructure of national significance, BDS provides all-time, all-weather and high-accuracy positioning, navigation and timing services to global users.

[selvaarchi]

You do not get this very often - "you can choose the main stream or one of 6 camera angles pointed at the pad"

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...601#msg2096601

Launch is delayed until further notice due to a technical issue discovered in the pre-flight tests.

[selvaarchi]

Launch is delayed until further notice due to a technical issue discovered in the pre-flight tests.

According to http://www.spaceflightfans.cn the launch has been rescheduled to the end of this month, on Jun. 30th

[selvaarchi]

"Beidou system's applications spread around globe"

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2020-06-24/d...w2769371.shtml

China's domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System has been widely used in many public sectors and business fields at home and abroad, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

By the end of 2019, more than 100 million Beidou-based navigation chips, modules and other products had been sold.

The system had by then been applied to nearly 6.6 million taxis, buses and trucks around China as well as more than 70,000 fishing vessels across the country. More than 10,000 fishermen had been rescued or received assistance after they used a Beidou device to ask for help.

Over 3,200 navigation facilities along rivers and more than 2,900 maritime navigation establishments now employ Beidou services.

Beidou-enabled functions are also used in at least 50,000 agricultural machines and have improved their operational efficiency.

More than 70 percent of mobile phones registered in China are compatible with Beidou signals.

[selvaarchi]

"With the launch of its BeiDou satellite, Beijing's Space Silk Road is open for business"

https://www.france24.com/en/20200624...y-for-business

This week, China launched into orbit the final satellite needed to make its BeiDou navigation system a worldwide alternative to the American Global Positioning and the European Galileo systems. For Beijing, this satellite programme is crucial in more than one respect.

For China, its 'New Silk Road' will essentially also pass through space. Beijing succeeded in launching the 35th and last satellite of its national navigation system, BeiDou, into orbit on June 23. This feat enables it to compete on a global level with the American GPS, the European Galileo and with Glonass, the solution developed by the Russians.

The launch marks the culmination of a long-term project that began in 1983 under the impetus of Chen Fangyun, an engineer nicknamed the "father of Chinese satellites". But it wasn't until the early 2000s that BeiDou really took off with the setting up of a network of satellites capable of providing geopositioning for the Chinese territory.

"The Chinese understood that navigation systems were bringing about a technological revolution in the military field by observing the effectiveness of American air raids during the war in Iraq in 2003," Keith Hayward, research director at the Royal Aeronautical Society in the United Kingdom, told FRANCE 24.

[selvaarchi]

"First island base station for BeiDou starts operations in China's Jiangsu" One minute video included.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139186238.htm

China's first island base station for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System was put into operation recently on the Kaishan Island of east China's Jiangsu Province. The base station can not only provide high-precision positioning and transmit standard time for the island and the surrounding waters, but also greatly improve the operation capacity of the island micro-grids. Through a newly built antenna, the base station will be connected with Beidou satellites in real time and provide precision satellite services for the island and the nearby waters.

[selvaarchi]

"1st Beidou base station with new system completed in NW China"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...7257d4d_1.html

The first base station with a ground-based augmentation system is completed in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which will offer high-precision positioning timing and emergency communication for the electricity industry.

Provided by the China-made Beidou Navigation Satellite System, the station's augmentation system can increase positioning precision to centimeter-level dynamically and millimeter-level statically.

The construction of the base station in Xinjiang is part of the project launched by the State Grid, which aims to build 1,200 Beidou base stations to provide high-precision positioning, timing, and emergency communication services for the electricity industry.

[selvaarchi]

"BeiDou adopted in unmanned farm machines in Xinjiang"

https://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/Bei...jiang_999.html

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has been adopted in more than 10,000 unmanned farm tractors and spraying drones in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to the regional agriculture and husbandry machinery administration.

Xinjiang has been promoting tractors, harvesters and other agricultural machinery equipped with BDS in recent years, and techniques such as precision sowing, fertilization, and pesticide spraying, based on the system to improve the working quality of the machines.

[selvaarchi]

"Last BeiDou satellite starts operation in network"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139249327.htm

The 55th and last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has commenced operation in the network after completing in-orbit tests and network access evaluations, according to a statement from China's Satellite Navigation System Management Office Wednesday.

[selvaarchi]

"Software upgrades for Beidou to continue"

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2020-08-04/d...t8796034.shtml

Designers of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System will keep upgrading software on Beidou satellites to improve their capabilities and maintain technological advantages, according to a key figure in this program.

Lin Baojun, a chief designer of Beidou's third-generation satellite, said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday that once a satellite is launched, it is virtually impossible for its hardware to be modified, so designers and engineers need to optimize its operating system and inject new functions into the spacecraft on a regular basis.

"This is like what we do with our mobile phones－we download a new app to give the phone more functions," said Lin, a designer from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Innovation Academy for Microsatellites. "With this method, our satellites will be able to receive regular improvements in orbit."

[selvaarchi]

"Spirit of 'Father of Beidou' will guide homegrown scientific app"

https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/2...817260a1d.html

At the launch ceremony for the Beidou Navigation Satellite System's full-scale global services on July 31, a hoary-haired man in a wheelchair caught many people's attention. Sun Jiadong, 91, is considered the "father of Beidou". He is the former chief designer of both the Beidou navigation system and China's lunar exploration project, and has been instrumental in the design of the country's navigation satellites.

I have had two opportunities to interview him in person. On each occasion, Sun made lasting impression on my mind with his palpable dedication to China's space industry. His perseverance in times of difficulties is legendary in space circles.

Sun's life is closely associated with many firsts in China's aerospace history, and his experience offers a glimpse into how the domestic space industry took off and why Beidou stands out in the global arena, now on a par with the US' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

[selvaarchi]

"Beidou-backed app used to track cattle in pastures"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...817260e05.html

It's 6 am and Otgonbileg, a 55-year-old herdsman from Hanggin Banner in Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is in no hurry to take his cattle to graze in the pastures like in the old days. Instead, he checks their location over real-time video in a phone app.

A "boss ox" among Otgonbileg's cattle wears a black collar with installed chips that can transmit and receive signals, enabling him to track the herd's movements. A solar panel on the collar keeps the device charged. Telephoto cameras installed on high ground along the area's pastures are controlled remotely to record and transmit videos to his phone.

The app is backed by China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System. As one of the four global networks providing navigation and positioning services, the Beidou system has provided full-scale global services since July 31. It can be used in a wide variety of fields, such as agriculture, fisheries, transportation and disaster relief.

[selvaarchi]

"Beijing launches innovation base for Beidou industry"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139322697.htm

Beijing on Thursday launched an innovation base for the Beidou satellite navigation industry, aimed at accelerating the development of high-tech industries, and improving the Beidou industrial ecology in the capital city.

It will also help the city's Beidou navigation and location service industry to gather core elements, achieve high-quality development, and promote the formation of a Beidou satellite navigation industrial park with global influence.

The innovation base will bring together advantageous enterprises and institutions in all links of the industrial chain to provide integrated services, such as product development, industry incubation, international cooperation, industry exchange, and application experience.