China just put a new navigation satellite in orbit. This the first one of ten scheduled to be put in space before the end of the year. Called Compass-G2, the satellite is part of a plan to free China from American dependence when it comes to global positioning. China’s navigation satellites are part of the Beidou project which has been underway for a quite a while now.
Previous reports said China planed to complete its independent global satellite navigation system by launching about 30 more orbiters before 2015, with 10 navigation satellites into the space in 2009 and 2010. The current Compass system only provides regional navigation service within China and neighboring regions.
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Source: Navigadget
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