Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Amid allegations about making in its lab coronavirus, China has put into orbit the final satellite in its BeiDou-3 navigation system. This helps China advance as a major space power.
Well launch is significant too in context to US-China dependency. It will allow China to no longer rely on the US government-owned Global Positioning System (GPS). The $10bn network is made up of 35 satellites and provides global navigation coverage.
It comes as tensions between Beijing and Washington are increasing over the coronavirus, trade and Hong Kong. While US has been blaming the WHO of siding with China and upon China the US has been blaming of bringing economic crisis before the world.
The launch had been scheduled for last week but had to be postponed after technical problems were found with the rocket in pre-launch tests. The third version of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) offers an alternative to Russia’s GLONASS and the European Galileo systems, as well as America’s GPS. Future plans promise to support a more accessible and integrated system scheduled to come online by 2035 with BDS at its core.
China had the ambitions for rapidly expanding Beidou satellite navigation system to serve the whole world, and not just Asia, but also rival the well-established and US-owned GPS system.
Originally designed for the Chinese military to reduce reliance on the US-owned GPS, Beidou has turned into a commercial opportunity as its coverage has expanded.
China’s space programme has developed rapidly over the last 20 years as Beijing has provided significant funding to develop the country’s own high-tech systems. In 2003, China became only the third country to launch its own crewed space mission. Since then it has built an experimental space station and sent two rovers to the moon.
