BeiDou achieves accuracy to within one to two meters
China's domestically-produced satellite navigation system BeiDou is said to have made significant progress in terms of its accuracy. At a press conference on Tuesday, BeiDou engineers claimed that a new accurate positioning chip can now help users arrive at their destinations with an error margin of just one to two meters. The release of the new chip from BeiDou made it possible to improve positioning accuracy up from 10 meters to within one to two meters, and distinguish the difference between a major highway and a side road. Read more
China GPS rival Beidou starts offering navigation data
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. Read more
China successfully launched the Compass-G2 navigation satellite early Wednesday, as part of the country's independent global satellite navigation system. The carrier rocket, Long March-3C, blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 0:16 a.m. April 15, 2009.
China will launch on April 15 a second Beidou satellite into orbit as part of its plan to set up its own Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The device will be shoot into orbit by a Long March-3III carrier from the Xichang Space Launch Centre, in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
China plans to launch the second Beidou satellite, the Chinese version of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), into the orbit on the upcoming Wednesday.
At least four new BeiDou-2 (Compass) satellites will be launched in 2009 by the team at the China Satellite Navigation Project Center. And a Russian launch vehicle will carry a Chinese micro-satellite into space in late 2009. If everything goes according to plan, Yinghuo-1, China's first Mars probe, will be another noteworthy achievement for the Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering.