For decades, the United States has been a leader in satellite navigation technology. The U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS as most of us know it, was originally designed as a military tool, but has also become indispensable in the lives of civilians, with over 6 billion users around the world. But the U.S. is not the only country with its own global navigation satellite system. Russia has GLONASS and the European Union has Galileo. In 2020, China launched the last satellite needed to complete its own global system called Beidou, which translates to “Big Dipper” in English. Since then, the influence of Beidou has grown, with an estimated 1.1 billion people now using the system. Experts say Beidou underpins not only China’s military ambitions, but is also spurring economic growth in the country and increasing its diplomatic leverage.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
02:20 — GPS vs. Beidou
06:20 — Challenging GPS
09:47 — GPS modernization
Produced by: Magdalena Petrova
Camera: Lucas Mullikin
Graphics: Christina Locopo, Andrea Schmitz
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional footage: U.S. Space Force, Lockheed Martin
Additional sources: Federal Aviation Administration
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