At the end of 2018, the Beidou Navigation Satellite System （BDS北斗卫星导航系统） started to provide global services. "This marked Beidou's entering a 'global era' from its 'regional era', " BDS Spokesman Ran Chengqi said at a news conference.
Now with two more Beidou satellites launched on Dec. 16th, 2019, BDS has 53 satellites in orbit-more than US government's Global Positioning System（GPS）, which has 31 active satellites. That launch means the core of Beidou's third-generation network is now in place. It is expected to greatly improve the system's ability to serve users worldwide.
A signal receiver on Earth-your smart phone, for example, measures its distance from at least three satellites by recording the amount of time it takes to receive their signals. Then it can calculate its location. With so many satellites, BDS can provide a more accurate calculation. While GPS calculates locations to within a few meters, BDS reduces the error to centimeters. This high-precision service is useful for land surveying, mapping, agriculture and automated driving.
China is willing to share BDS with the world. According to Ran, BDS products have been exported to more than 120 countries and regions. "The Beidou system will always stick to the development idea of 'China's Beidou, the world's Beidou and the first-class Beidou', serving the world and benefiting mankind, " Ran told reporters after the latest launch. He added that future plans call for a smarter and more accessible system with Beidou as its core, to come online by 2035.
