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BeiDou, China’s version of GPS
Why is it in News?
- China’s President Xi Jinping officially commissioned the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System constellation.
Details:
- It will provide positioning services to transportation, emergency medical rescue and city planning and management areas.
- BeiDou navigation system:
(1) Beidou – 35 satellites navigation system developed by China
(2) It’s an alternative to USA’ Global Positioning System (GPS).
(3) System uses a network of satellites and can provide positional accuracies of under ten metres (GPS provides positioning accuracies of under 2.2 metres).
(4) China initiated BeiDou in 1994 with aims to integrate its application in different sectors.
(5) It will help to keep military communications secure and improve weapons targeting, especially in the Asia-Pacific region
(6) It has civilian applications too as 70% mobile are Beidou enabled
- Other countries' navigation systems:
(1) Russia has its navigation system called GLONASS.
(2) The European Union (EU) has Galileo.
(3) India’s system is called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).