China’s home-grown Beidou satellite system eyes global footprint

  • November 5, 2022
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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China’s home-grown Beidou satellite system eyes global footprint

Subject :Science and Tech

Context-

China on November 4, 2022, outlined plans to further expand the global reach of its home-grown Beidou satellite navigation system, billed as its alternative to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).

More on the news-

  • A white paper released by the Chinese government said Beijing is “strengthening regional cooperation with organisations such as ASEAN, the African Union, the League of Arab States, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States”.
  • Beijing has, since 2020, also made an outreach to South Asia and is already working, or in discussion with, a number of countries in the region, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, over adopting the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system.
  • The Belt and Road (BRI) countries are their priority.

About the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system-

  • China’s navigation system, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China, relies on a satellite network to offer positional accuracy of fewer than 10 meters.
  • Chen Fangyun and his colleagues came up with the notion of a Chinese satellite navigation system in the 1980s.
  • The BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System, often known as BeiDou-1, was the first BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in China.
  • BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China was made up of three satellites that began providing limited coverage and navigation services in 2000, mostly to consumers in China and surrounding regions.
  • In December 2011, China launched the second edition of the system, popularly known as the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and also known as COMPASS or BeiDou-2, with a partial constellation of 10 satellites in orbit.
  • BeiDou-1 was deactivated at the end of 2012, and BeiDou-2 has been providing services to clients in the Asia-Pacific area since December 2012.
  • China launched the BeiDou-3 system, the third generation BeiDou system, in 2015 for worldwide coverage.
  • On 30 March 2015, the first BDS-3 satellite was launched.
  • In 2016, it was predicted that BeiDou-3 would achieve millimetre-level precision (with post-processing).
  • The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China began delivering worldwide services on 27 December 2018.
  • On 23 June 2020, BDS-3’s 35th and last satellite was put into orbit.

Features of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China-

  • The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China was manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and is operated by China National Space Administration (CNSA) at a Global level.
  • There are a total of 35 satellites in BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China orbit from its first launch on 31 October 2000 to its last launch on 23 June 2020.
  • It has a signal accuracy of 0.41 meters.

Which other countries use the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system-

  • The BDS, which now has a “constellation” of 30 satellites in orbit, began its international outreach once the set-up was finished in 2018.
  • It is now in use “in more than half of the world’s countries”.
  • China is also helping several BRI partners, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, launch communication satellites.
  • Saudi Arabia is using Beidou in surveying and mapping, positioning people and vehicles in the desert.
  • Tajikistan is using BDS to monitor dams and lakes with precision.
  • Lebanon is using BDS at Beirut port for marine survey and construction.
  • In Burkina Faso, it is being used for the survey and construction of hospitals.
  • Pakistan and Russia are two significant Beidou hubs.
  • China and Russia have signed a strategic framework on their two navigation systems, taking forward a 2015 deal on interoperability between Beidou and GLONASS.
  • Pakistan in 2014 became the first foreign country to set up a Beidou network.
  • South Asia and Southeast Asia – both of which are key BRI regions – are a current focus of expanding Beidou’s presence.

Looking for further expansion-

  • Beidou has set up the first of three Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) for its network in Thailand in 2013, to serve as a hub for ASEAN.
  • China and Sri Lanka also agreed on plans to set up 10 CORS.
  • In 2020, Beijing reached out to Bangladesh and Nepal.
  • The next focus was to improve Beidou’s capabilities, which have, in China, closed the gap with GPS in terms of accuracy, although its overseas services still lag behind.

India’s navigation system NavIC- 

  • NavIC or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is designed with a constellation of 7 satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24×7.
  • There are a total of eight satellites however only seven remain active.
  • Three satellites are in geostationary orbit and four satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
  • The constellations’ first satellite (IRNSS-1A) was launched on 1st July 2013 and the eighth satellite IRNSS-1I was launched in April 2018.
  • With the seventh launch of the constellation’s satellite (IRNSS-1G), IRNSS was renamed NavIC by India’s Prime Minister in 2016.
  • It was recognised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a part of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS) for operation in the Indian Ocean Region in 2020.

Potential Uses:

  • Terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation;
  • Disaster management;
  • Vehicle tracking and fleet management (especially for mining and transportation sector);
  • Integration with mobile phones;
  • Precise timing (as for ATMs and power grids);
  • Mapping and geodetic data capture.

China’s home-grown Beidou satellite system eyes global footprint Science and tech