Free Republic

The sales volume of ‘Made in China’ BeiDou chips has exceeded 100 million and related products have been exported to more than 120 countries and regions, according to China’s official report, which also said BeiDou’s role in countering U.S. rival GPS, as well as its significance for China’s national defense strategy, is “beyond description.”

The Chinese regime failed a rocket launch on July 10—the fifth unsuccessful attempt that Beijing has publicly acknowledged over four months—in its bid to further its space ambitions. The maiden launch of Kuaizhou-11, China’s largest solid carrier rocket to date with the strongest carrying capacity, failed upon its liftoff at a launch base in Inner Mongolia, causing the loss of two communication satellites it was carrying. The incident marked Beijing’s fifth rocket launch failure since March this year. Chinese authorities said they are still looking into the causes. The regime had originally planned for Kuaizhou-11’s launch as early as the...

A prefecture in China’s far western Xinjiang region is requiring all vehicles to install satellite tracking systems as part of stepped-up measures against violent attacks. Traffic police in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture announced the regulation on Sunday, shortly after thousands of heavily armed police paraded in the Xinjiang capital and ruling Communist Party officials vowed to ramp up their campaign against separatists and Islamic militants. The vehicle-tracking program in Bayingolin will utilize China’s homegrown Beidou satellite system, launched in recent years to reduce China’s reliance on U.S.-based GPS providers for sensitive applications. Authorities said they will also track cars using...

China's satellite navigation plans threaten Galileo 13:34 08 November 2006 NewScientist.com news service Paul Marks China's decision to expand the functionality of its satellite navigation network could undermine the economics of Europe's nascent Galileo system, according to sources close to the project. Until now, experts believed that China's "Beidou" navigation system ? a 35-satellite constellation ? would only be used by its armed forces. This explained China's decision to invest ?200 million in Europe's ?2.5 billion Galileo programme. But things appear to have changed in Beijing. On 2 November, the country's official news agency Xinhua reported that Beidou would, from...