China Announces Plans to Create Next-Generation Satellite Navigation System

China plans to upgrade its BeiDou satellite navigation system.

The modernization will involve the deployment of next-generation satellites, China Daily reports.

These plans became known from a report published at a symposium on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the construction of the country’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

Three experimental satellites of this navigation system are scheduled for launch around 2027, while network deployment will begin by about 2029 and will be completed by 2035.

The next-generation BeiDou system will deliver real-time, highly accurate navigation, positioning and timing with precision levels ranging from meters to decimeters, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

Yang Changfeng, chief designer of the BDS, stated that the system will feature precision and trustworthiness, seamless accessibility, intelligent capabilities, networked integration, and adaptable flexibility.

In addition, according to him, the system will provide users with complete coverage, extending from the Earth’s surface to the depths of outer space.

The construction of BDS-1 and BDS-2 was completed in 2000 and 2012, respectively. When BDS-3 was completed and put into service on July 31, 2020, China became the third country to have an independent global navigation satellite system.

BDS-3 consists of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites, three geostationary Earth orbit satellites and three inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit ones.

The modernization of the BeiDou system will be aimed primarily at optimizing the structure of the constellation to form a mixed constellation of satellites in high, medium and low Earth orbits.

As previously reported, the United States plans to deploy a group of hundreds of reconnaissance satellites in orbit. Christopher Scolese, director of the National Military Space Intelligence Agency, said that this will be done by the end of 2024.

“From June last year to December this year, we will probably launch 100 satellites. Thus, we are moving from the demonstration phase to the operational phase,” he said.