According to the latest news, at 5:10 am on September 23, a Long March 3 B carrier rocket was successfully launched at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The 47th and 48th Beidou navigation satellites that have been carried on have also entered smoothly. Track, follow-up will be tested in-orbit, and timely access to the network to provide location navigation services.
When I saw this news, I believe that many people will be shocked by the 47 and 48 numbers. It is necessary to know that the total number of satellites in today's GPS is only 24, for such a large-scale satellite network project, the world. At present, only China can get it. Since the satellite navigation system in our country in the early 1980s, it has been through the past 40 years.
In order to accumulate technology in related fields, our astronauts also bowed their heads in the 1990s and sought cooperation with the Galileo project in Europe. But later things may be known to many people. We don't give much money, but they are always excluded from the core areas of the project.
In the Wenchuan earthquake, because the GPS system was artificially shut down, a Mi-171 helicopter crashed in the mountains and all the crew on the plane died. This series of encounters made the Chinese astronauts firmly determined to develop the Beidou system. Now, our Beidou system has become a supplier identified by the United Nations Satellite Navigation Committee along with GPS in the United States, Galileo in Europe, and GLONASS in Russia.
This "club" said that there are four members, but if you look at the recent news, you know that the European Galileo system has already experienced serious failures. If you can continue to take on the big task, the European Space Agency may not have much confidence in it. The Lonus system has never been much moving. This is probably related to their current economic situation. After all, this project is really expensive.