China to launch Beidou-3 satellites in 2020

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China will launch in 2020 the last two satellites of its Beidou-3 mapping system, an alternative to the US GPS, authorities have announced. Ran Chengqi, a spokesman for the agency responsible for developing the system, on Friday told the media that the two satellites will be launched into space before June 2020.

China has launched 10 Beidou satellites into space during 2019. Ren added that by 2035 a new navigation system and schedule of Beidou more ubiquitous, integrated and intelligent will be established. The Beidou-3 system has been underway in China and parts of the Asia-Pacific region since December 2012, and began operating worldwide in December 2018.

The accuracy margin of the system is less than five meters, according to the authorities. China began building its own satellite navigation system in 2000 to end its dependence on the GPS system, and decided to call it Beidou, a name that ancient Chinese astronomers gave to the seven brightest stars of the Big Dipper or Plough constellation. Beidou is one of the four space projects of navigation networks, together with the GPS by the US, Galileo from the European Union and GLONASS from Russia.