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ChinaScience

China’s Beidou satellite navigation system gets a stronger foothold in the West

  • China’s answer to GPS is now more powerful than ever, thanks to 2 ground stations in North America
  • As Beidou satellite system grows, so do government worries the technology could be used as a spy tool

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China’s version of GPS, the Beidou satellite navigation system, is now more powerful than ever, thanks to two ground stations in North America. Photo: AP
Zhang Tongin BeijingandStephen Chenin Beijing

Far above our planet, China’s growing constellation of navigation satellites is offering more precision than ever, thanks to some down-to-earth support in North America.

At least two ground monitoring stations for the Beidou satellite navigation system are now operating on the continent, one of which is located somewhere in the central United States, according to a major Chinese defence contractor.

The ground facilities are intended to track the Chinese satellites when they fly over the region and report their flight status to Beijing. The data is used to help increase the accuracy of the positioning service with a margin of error of 3cm, according to information from the China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO).

Beidou is the Chinese version of GPS. But with 45 satellites in orbit, it is the largest network of global positioning satellites ever built.

GPS has 11 command and control antennas and 16 monitoring sites around the world, according to the US government. There are no GPS ground stations located in China.

Such satellites are equipped with sensitive devices that can, over time, accumulate errors due to changes in gravity and other disturbances as they orbit Earth. The ground stations can help correct these errors, according to a NORINCO representative at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, who asked not be named.

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