Beidou satellites show importance of indigenous core technology

A leading Chinese expert has stressed that China's home-grown Beidou Navigation Satellite System demonstrates the necessity for the country to grasp a core technology that is entirely self-developed, after a US ban on a leading Chinese smartphone maker.

On Monday, the US Department of Commerce banned US companies from selling key components to ZTE for seven years, which many insiders believe will bring a huge loss to the company.

The Beidou Navigation Satellite System, or BDS, independently developed and operated by China, is named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper constellation. The project was formally launched in 1994, and it began to serve China in 2000, and then the Asia-Pacific region in 2012.

According to a white paper on the BDS, China upholds the principles of "independence, openness, compatibility and gradualness" in the system's construction and development. By "independence," it means to uphold independent construction, development and operation of the BDS, and acquire the ability to independently provide satellite navigation services to the rest of the world.
     (chinamedia)
 21/4/18
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