The eighth "Beidou" was successfully launched. The construction of China's satellite navigation system reached a new stage

The eighth "Beidou" was successfully launched. China's construction of satellite navigation system reached a new stage. Source: China News Service, Xichang Launch Station, China...

The eighth Beidou satellite was successfully launched. China's satellite navigation system construction has reached a new stage. Source: Xichang Launch Station of China News Service. China successfully launched its eighth Beidou navigation satellite in the early morning of the 10th. Sun Jiadong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief designer of the Beidou satellite navigation system project, said that the successful launch of the eighth Beidou navigation satellite marks a new stage of development in the construction and application of the Beidou system and has a profound impact on the development of China's satellite navigation industry. But after the satellite goes into space, the ground system is also very important. Only when "heaven" and "underground" cooperate with each other can it truly work. This satellite will form a basic system (composed of GEO and IGSO satellites) with the previously launched Beidou navigation system satellites. After a period of on-orbit verification and system joint debugging, it will be able to provide initial service conditions to most areas in China. Sun Jiadong, who came to the site to guide the satellite launch, said in an interview with reporters that from the 1980s to the 1990s, China proposed and formulated a "three-step" plan for the independent development and implementation of the Beidou satellite navigation system based on its national conditions: The first step was the experimental phase, which was to accumulate technical experience for the construction of the Beidou satellite navigation system, cultivate talents, develop corresponding ground application infrastructure equipment, and develop the satellite navigation application market. The second step is to launch more than ten satellites before 2012 to build the Beidou satellite navigation system covering the Asia-Pacific region; the third step is to build a global satellite navigation system composed of more than 30 satellites by 2020. Sun Jiadong said that satellites can solve three problems: information acquisition, information transmission and information positioning. China has now solved the first two problems. At present, economic construction and social development have urgent requirements for information positioning. In addition to positioning in space, there is also positioning in time, which is very difficult. This requires the use of multiple satellites to form a network to solve the problem. In this sense, the Beidou satellite navigation system will play an important role. It is known that according to the system construction plan, China will launch multiple Beidou navigation satellites this year and next to complete the construction of the Beidou regional satellite navigation system. At the same time, we will promote the widespread application of satellite navigation in various industries, especially establish and improve the support, guarantee and promotion system for China's satellite navigation industry, promote the development of the satellite navigation industry, and promote the widespread application of satellite navigation in various fields of the national economy and society. Sun Jiadong said that the successful launch of the eighth Beidou navigation satellite marks that the construction and application of the Beidou system has entered a new stage of development, and has a profound impact on the development of China's satellite navigation industry. But after the satellite goes into space, the ground system is also very important. Only when "heaven" and "underground" cooperate with each other can it truly work. "Since China's success in manned spaceflight, the technical level of satellites has been continuously improving. After the completion of Beidou, users' acceptance and use are also issues that need to be considered urgently. I believe that with high-quality products, users will gain trust and support."