China Joins EU Space Program To Break US GPS Monopoly
Date: Saturday, September 27 @ 17:32:00 UTC
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 September 19 saw the inauguration of the "China-Europe Global Navigation Satellite System Technical Training and Cooperation Center" (CENC) in Beijing to train staff and organize bilateral exchange for the Galileo project, an independent European satellite constellation that will rival the US military's domination of the Global Positioning System (GPS). This marks the beginning of China-Europe cooperation in the project, and the news was immediately relayed by foreign media and drew world attention.
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Why does EU cooperate with China in the Galileo program? Researcher Cao Chong, a deputy chief engineer with the 22nd research institute under the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, said that there are two major factors for this. Firstly, China's support and participation can facilitate EU's negotiation with the United States and Russia on cooperation. Secondly, China's huge market provides promising prospects for the program. By now GPS technology has been fully applied to automobiles and even mobile phones, and China's hundred million mobile users and its rapidly growing number of autos can tremendously expand Galileo's market domain.
China also showed high enthusiasm for the project. After negotiations China's Ministry of Science and Technology initialed on September 18 an agreement with EU's Directorate-General Energy and Transport for wide cooperation in the process of implementing the Galileo program in the fields of satellite launching and manufacturing, experiment on the environment of radio transmission, ground system and radio frequency, as well as the standards for receivers.
China is sure to become a space power in the 21st century, able and necessary to have its own global positioning system
Why is China actively participating in the Galileo program? According to Prof. Guo Jingjun with the Terrestrial Space Information Research Institute of Tsinghua University, except for military uses, the huge economic returns brought by GPS can never be neglected. Although the United States sends GPS signals free of charge, it has made exorbitant money from selling receiving equipment. She gave an example, saying that in 1986 a GPS locator of common precision cost US$50,000, and one with high precision US$100,000. Today, a locator of a cell-phone size costs no more than US$2,000, and a high-precision locator only US$30,000. How much profit American corporations have carried off is imaginable.
The Galileo project will be completely in place by 2007 and put into business operation by 2008. China's participation from the very beginning has made it possible to avoid the passive situation of knowing nothing about the GPS in the initial period. Tsinghua University and European corporations have shown intention to jointly R&D a compatible Galileo receiver and the receiver of American and Russian systems, thereby greatly raising positioning reliability.
Will participation in the Galileo project clash with the development of China's own navigation system? Cao Chong explained that although the Galileo project is the biggest sci-tech cooperation program between China and EU, China's participation is rather limited, equivalent to only one EU member and accounting for a meager share of the investment. Furthermore, a lion's share of the funds will come from Chinese enterprises taking part in the cooperation.
China attaches great importance to its satellite navigation system. Last May, the nation sent into space its third "Beidou" (the Big Dipper-1) navigation positioning satellite, forming a complete positioning system together with the first two "Beidou" satellites launched in 2000, a system with the improved precision reaching dozens of meters and having communication functions.
China's "Beidou" navigation system is a regional positioning system mainly covering the country and its neighboring areas, thus making vertical positioning impossible and limiting the number of users. Academician Liang Sili, who once served as the general engineer of the nation's Aerospace Ministry, said that the global positioning system is a apace infrastructure facility. China is bound to be a space power in the 21st century, able and necessary to possess its own navigation system. The Sino-EU cooperation will significantly help China to attain its goal.
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