Beidou goes live (sort of)

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A topic from Technology: GPS and Sat Nav

laresWed 28/12/11 13:38

"China's satellite navigation system has become operational, according to an official. Beidou now offered location, timing and navigation data to China and surrounding areas announced the project's spokesman Ran Cheng. China has been working on the system since 2000 to provide an alternative to the US government-run Global Positioning System (GPS).

The move should make China's military less dependent on foreign technology. A launch earlier this month delivered the tenth of Beidou's satellites into orbit. Beijing plans to send a further six satellites into space by 2012 to extend the system to most parts of Asia, and then expand the network to a total of 35 satellites offering global coverage by 2020."

"Beidou - which translates as the Plough, or Big Dipper - promises to offer civilian users positioning information correct to the nearest 10 metres, measure speeds within 0.2 metres per second, and provide clock synchronisation signals accurate to 0.02 millionths of a second.

The Chinese military will be able to obtain more accurate data. A 2004 study by Geoffrey Forden, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggested that Beidou could be used to target cruise missiles against Taiwan if a war broke out over the territory. Having its own system would protect China against the risk that the US could turn GPS off."

"Beyond GPS, Russia operates the Glonass network. It recently launched a series of satellites to cover gaps in its system and reported earlier this month that it once again covered 100% of the Earth's surface. The EU is also developing its own system - Galileo. The first of its operational satellites entered orbit in October. The European Space Agency said the network should be completed in 2019. Meanwhile, defence developer Lockheed Martin is working to upgrade the US's system to GPS III."

http://1sq.me/ui2AVG

markonseaWed 28/12/11 23:54

Yes, well, we are still short of satellites up there. I mean, it's still possible for a Mars shot, say, to weave a path between them, so why worry?

Meanwhile, it's getting closer to Big Bother every day, folks. There are now four big power blocs each determined to have their own GPS so that they don't have to rely on a possible enemy's when they need to use it to target ICBMs against them.

I think the punch-up in Jerusalem is funnier. But not by much.

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