Beidou-3 Navigation Satellites: China’s Beidou-3 satellite system now providing global services

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01:40

The next time you open the map on your phone, China's Beidou system might provide an alternative to GPS to tell you where you are or where to go.

Global coverage offering accuracy like never before. China's Satellite Navigation Office announced Thursday that the primary system of Beidou-3 navigation satellites is complete, and now online, providing global services.

RAN CHENGQI DIRECTOR GENERAL OF CHINA SATELLITE NAVIGATION OFFICE "Now no matter where you are, users will be able to receive signals from Beidou."

The primary system of Beidou-3 consists of 19 satellites, launched during 10 missions between November 2017 and November of this year. Along with the existing Beidou-2 satellites, the Beidou System is now capable of providing a positioning system with accuracy within 10 meters on a global scale. However, that falls short of the 5 meters possible with the United States' GPS system.

RAN CHENGQI DIRECTOR GENERAL OF CHINA SATELLITE NAVIGATION OFFICE "Within the Asia-Pacific region the Beidou System can provide an accuracy within 5 meters. It can also provide a short messaging service, which no other positioning system is capable of. When the entire system is complete by 2020, its accuracy will be doubled."

China will launch 12 more satellites next year and in 2020, which will further improve the performance of the system. Officials say the technology can be applied to fields like search and rescue, agriculture, and transportation, among many others.