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China has been working on its own global positioning system (GPS) that will cover whole Asia.

This was stated by Chinese officials at the Toulouse Space Show. The Asia-wide GPS named “Beidou” (Compass) will be introduced in 2010.
According to the details gathered the system already has four satellites in position and it will be free to use. An encrypted channel will also be included for “authorised” users at a later stage.

Chengqi Ran, vice director of the China Satellite Navigation Project Center said:

Beidou would be a highly reliable signal dedicated to complex situations.

It will be compatible with US GPS and European Galileo, especially later one since China is a major investor in that scheme.

The final network will comprise 30 satellites in low Earth orbit linked by a further five in a geostationary position at a higher altitude. The network will cover Asia by 2010 and the first satellites have already been launched and are functioning well.

Paul Verhoef, head of the Galileo unit at the European Commission, which is financing Galileo’s development, said:

Our position with the Chinese is that we need to make sure we all have the same understanding of the problem. It has taken the Chinese a while to realize that it is in their interest to coordinate signals and other compatibility issues if they want to be in this community of providers.

The GPS market is currently worth about $5bn in China.