BeiDou Chief Designer Yang Changfeng: BeiDou Has Grown from a Late-commer, to a Well-matched Competitor and Futher a Leading Player
The 13th Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG-13) was successfully held in Xi’an, China. Yang Changfeng, the chief designer of China BeiDou satellite navigation system, suggested in an interview on November 6th that the BeiDou satellite navigation system has grown from a late-commer, to a well-matched competitor and futher a leading player.
Yang Changfeng stated, a review of the three stages of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System shows that BeiDou-1 is still catching up; the BeiDou-2 can rival its international counterparts in terms of technology and service; and BeiDou-3 is capable of providing navigation services with higher precision and performance and in a sense, the BeiDou-3 is shoulder to shoulder with global competitors and on a track of surpassing them.
2018 has witnessed intensive launches of the BeiDou to form a global network. By now, 17 BeiDou-3 satellites have been successfully launched and become new members of the international network. Another two satellites will be launched before the end of the year to build a basic system to serve the countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.