China achieves its rival GPS system with satellite launch
CHINA has launched the final satellite in its quest to match America’s Global Positioning System, a key step in its emergence as a major space power.
The completion of its Beidou satellite navigation system means if the two countries were to enter a conflict, the US could not disable Chinese military systems by blocking access to GPS.
Yang Changfeng, chief designer of China’s $10 billion, 30-satellite network, said: “We are moving from being a major nation in the field of space to becoming a true space power.”
Beidou was started in the Nineties as China’s military sought to reduce its reliance on the Us-run GPS. The first Beidou satellite entered orbit in 2000.
China’s transportation, agriculture, electric power transmission and fisheries industries have been using Beidou for two years. It also provides navigation services to countries taking part in China’s sprawling “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.
As well as GPS, the Beidou network offers an alternative to Russia’s Glonass and Europe’s Galileo systems and could compete against rivals in the same way as Chinese mobile phone makers have.
Alexandra Stickings, a research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, said: “The civil signal from Beidou is no better than GPS or Galileo. From a defence perspective it is difficult to say whether Beidou is superior.
“It may prove popular among Belt and Road countries, particularly those who may wish to be less dependent upon the GPS system. However, Beidou will need to prove its reliability.”
Christopher Newman, professor of space law and policy at Northumbria university, said: “The most profound impact is that China is now independent. It has a system that is resilient and can be used in times of conflict.”
China’s space programme has developed rapidly over 20 years. In 2003 it became the third country to independently launch a crewed space mission.
It has since built an experimental space station and sent a pair of rovers to the surface of the Moon.