A new step for China’s satellite navigation system

Ever since it stepped out of the European Galileo project, China has been developing its own satellite navigation system. The whole program goes under the name Beidou (北斗) and should be operational around 2015. Like the US Global Positioning System (GPS), China’s Beidou was primarily designed for the military; but it will be available for civilian purposes as well.

A base for the industrial application of satellite navigation is now being built in Shanghai’s Minhang district (上海闵行区). It is the first of its kind in China and will be located within Shanghai’s National Base for Civil Aerospace Industry (国家民用航天产业基地).

The new base will comprise several research and development centers in different satellite navigation-related areas. Companies associated with the Beidou project, will also have a presence on the base: the first two key companies (龙头企业) are Everthriving Satellite Technology (中兴恒和) and GZHPower (国智恒).

Similar to the motivations behind Gallileo (Europe) or Glonass (Russia), China’s aim is to be technologically and politically independent in this strategic area. The economic prospects are also potentially big, if Beidou succeeds in being the leading provider of satellite navigation for commercial use in China. There is no doubt that the different government entities will push in this direction.

Chinese source: 中国首个国家卫星导航应用产业项目落户上海