China's Space Program News Thread
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bladerunner
Banned Idiot
Re: china manned space - news and views
I understand Americas GPS system can be used for free, so how can the others expect to be commercially viable?
I understand Americas GPS system can be used for free, so how can the others expect to be commercially viable?
Maggern
Junior Member
Re: china manned space - news and views
The others are free as well, but GPS is getting old. Galileo is compatible with GPS and I think GLONASS is as well, so that your cell phone or transmitter can interchange between the systems according to which has the best coverage of the area you're in. Personal users most likely won't see the difference, but in a time of crisis, the military will not be completely blocked out of satellite navigation, but have a backup in a different navigation system under its control.
Remember that GPS is still under the direct control of the US military, and international use of the system is made possible by goodwill, and can easily be closed for users in certain areas.
The others are free as well, but GPS is getting old. Galileo is compatible with GPS and I think GLONASS is as well, so that your cell phone or transmitter can interchange between the systems according to which has the best coverage of the area you're in. Personal users most likely won't see the difference, but in a time of crisis, the military will not be completely blocked out of satellite navigation, but have a backup in a different navigation system under its control.
Remember that GPS is still under the direct control of the US military, and international use of the system is made possible by goodwill, and can easily be closed for users in certain areas.
bladerunner
Banned Idiot
Re: china manned space - news and views
I was under the impression that Galileo was a commercial venture and is hopeful of making a profit, u cant do that if the sevices you provide are free.
I was under the impression that Galileo was a commercial venture and is hopeful of making a profit, u cant do that if the sevices you provide are free.
Engineer
Major
Re: china manned space - news and views
Not GLONASS as its uses FDMA while GPS is using CDMA. Galileo will use CDMA and so will Beidiou. However, GLONASS will also be converted to CDMA in the future if I remember correctly.
Maggern
Junior Member
Re: china manned space - news and views
Galileo is not a private venture. It's an inter-state venture through ESA. States really does not need extra fees for the use of the system because it basically pays for itself through the commercial opportunities such a system creates for related industries in the states in question. Most space-related ventures (aside from space tourism and most commercial satellites) give no direct income, but they stimulate the high-tech industries and whatnot, which in turn gives a boost to the country's economy.
Galileo is not a private venture. It's an inter-state venture through ESA. States really does not need extra fees for the use of the system because it basically pays for itself through the commercial opportunities such a system creates for related industries in the states in question. Most space-related ventures (aside from space tourism and most commercial satellites) give no direct income, but they stimulate the high-tech industries and whatnot, which in turn gives a boost to the country's economy.
RedMercury
Junior Member
Re: china manned space - news and views
Well, one business paradigm I can think of is to charge a modest fee for higher accuracy. The GPS system limits the accuracy non-authorized users are allowed to access.
Well, one business paradigm I can think of is to charge a modest fee for higher accuracy. The GPS system limits the accuracy non-authorized users are allowed to access.
Re: china manned space - news and views
China's military awaits new satellites
By Peter J Brown
China wants to become the next big player in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology. Zhang Xiaojin, director of the astronautics department at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, recently confirmed that China will complete its new Beidou 2 or "Compass" GNSS consisting of 30 more satellites before 2015, with 10 or more new Compass satellites scheduled for launch over the next two years.
Since the beginning of the decade, when China's first Beidou (the Chinese word for the Big Dipper constellation) navigation satellites (navsats) were launched, China has moved quickly to transform its small regional navsat system into a full GNSS constellation capable of performing in much the same way as the United States's Global Positioning System (GPS), and Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Compass should be available well ahead of the European Union's Galileo System in the coming decade, although China remains a partner in Galileo, too.
"In September of 2005, the State Council passed a regulation integrating the use of Beidou terminals into government communications, power, planning, mapping, standards and other government agencies, while at the same time issuing language guaranteeing long-term access to a continually upgraded Beidou system," said Gregory Kulacki, senior analyst and China Project Manager at the Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists. "This way they forced everybody to buy the equipment, pumping money and people into the system, while allowing people to continue using GPS, which is a far better system, obviously."
The United States's GPS system is operated and maintained by the US Department of Defense (DoD), while the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) executive committee manages it. The US Coast Guard acts as the civil interface to the public for GPS matters, and the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) GNSS program office develops GPS applications for the aviation industry.
A minimum of 24 GPS satellites constantly orbit the Earth at an altitude of approximately 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers). They provide users with accurate information on position, velocity and time anywhere in the world and in all weather conditions. Each satellite, positioned in one of six orbital planes, circles the Earth twice a day. GPS receivers using signals from two or three or more GPS satellites can determine a user's precise location by comparing the time of the signal transmissions with the actual time of reception. Once the differences are calculated, the GPS receiver fixes the position and displays the relevant data on the user's GPS device.
Given the enormous footprint of GPS, it is important to understand why China is undertaking this project. It goes well beyond a matter of national prestige.
"[China's Compass] GNSS program is driven by the same motives as the other GNSS systems: sovereign control over a critical infrastructure, security purposes, industrial policy [including] building expertise, manufacturing, and [global] markets, and demonstrating possession of another capability of a 'great power'," said Oregon-based Glen Gibbons, one of the world's leading experts on GNSS, and the editor and managing partner of the Inside GNSS website . He has followed Compass closely for years.
"Both Galileo and Compass are motivated by other countries being uncomfortable with relying on a US military-owned GPS system upon which they have become heavily reliant in daily life. While the US has assured [everyone] that GPS would not be denied except in the most dire of circumstances, it cannot give the 100% guarantee that other countries seek," said Dr Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the National Security Decision Making Department at the US Naval War College.
"[China's] expansion or extension into Compass is not surprising. While Galileo is intentionally being developed toward global commercial use, full utilization plans for Compass are uncertain. Certainly navsats have been demonstrated as highly dual-use, so it can be anticipated that the Chinese military, and the navy in particular, will benefit from its availability," she added.
As China's PLA Navy (PLAN) transits the Straits of Malacca and enters the Indian Ocean on patrol, the naval operations support dimension of the Compass GNSS in particular warrants closer attention.
"A successful Compass constellation, combined with a fuller constellation of imaging and communication satellites, will serve as much a military enabler for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as it has for the US military. Compass is a key requirement for the PLA to eventually become a global military player," said Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the Washington DC-based International Assessment and Strategy Center. "Compass will enable the first form of PLA global power projection by guiding land-attack cruise missiles fired from PLAN ships and submarines."
Given that the US quickly fired submarine-launched, GPS-guided cruise missiles to retaliate against suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan after the 1998 US Embassy bombings, for example, and did so without any prior declaration of war, Fisher wonders if China might pursue the same course of action against some global supporters of Tibetan or Taiwanese freedom deemed "terrorists" by China.
"Might these individuals come to be on the receiving end of Chinese cruise missiles? Or should their state of residence become dependent on Chinese Compass services, would this then be used as political leverage?" asks Fisher. "This is not simply a 'natural and expected' power shift."
The emergence of Compass and the larger PLA-controlled space architecture is critical if China intends to construct competing strategic networks on Earth.
"Consider the China-allied 'axis of evil' states being able to access intimate imagery online combined with guaranteed Compass signals for their munitions. Iran’s desire to attack Israel with nuclear weapons may diminish, but with a corresponding increasing temptation to initiate strikes against Israel with a new variety of non-nuclear precision weapons," said Fisher.
Taiwan is well aware of the fact that Compass could be employed for short-range precision missiles - both ballistic and cruise.
"It will also provide China with far more reliable and effective navigation and positioning of force deployment," said Eric Hagt, China program director at the World Security Institute in Washington DC. "Greater maneuverability, battlefield awareness and the use of precision guidance, both short and long range, would have obvious impact for a regional conflict [such as one involving] Taiwan or over the South China Sea's energy resources or one that takes place far from China’s borders."
Fisher also predicts that as China's completion date for Compass draws near, pressure will mount for nations to launch competing GNSSs. For example, the first satellite for Japan’s Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) will be launched next year by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. QZSS is intended to augment or compliment the GPS system by offering better GPS service coverage in Japanese urban areas. India is also openly pursuing its own GNSS solution.
"Washington, which has in the past sought to oppose Galileo for both efficiency and political reasons, will be pressured to actually promote new navsat competitors to Compass, [and] to ensure new levels of redundancy which will offer the best passive defense against China’s potential control of navsat services," said Fisher.
China's deployment of Compass as an independent GNSS for commercial, civil and national security reasons comes at a time when China has been improving its overall transparency, and, "their policy principles are familiar and compatible with positions the US has supported for years", said Scott Pace, director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute.
Among other things, Pace expects China to create a GNSS which is completely interoperable with the large installed base of existing GPS users.
"This is not only good economic sense, but will increase incentives for other providers, such as Europe and Russia, to also be interoperable and use open interfaces as customers will be reluctant to adopt closed, proprietary systems," said Pace.
While he points to the December 2008 meeting at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California as a good example of the multinational cooperative discussions about GNSS-related matters now that underway, his optimism is tempered somewhat. [1]
"I would, however, hope to see more commercial cooperation in non-military technologies between Chinese and US firms in order to ensure that China's entry benefits the millions if not billions of current GPS users, and does not [lead] to friction over spectrum, technical standards, or trade barriers," Pace said.
Gibbons reports that China's involvement in the Galileo project is very much on its own terms. China's Galileo project is overseen by the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC), which signed a cooperation agreement with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) in October 2003. All but about 10 million euros (US$12.8 million) of China's 200 million euro commitment to the Galileo program has been spent on application development and ground infrastructure in China itself.
"These activities may well be winding down as the lessons learned and physical infrastructure developed under the Galileo project are integrated into the larger Compass program," said Gibbons.
When the first Compass geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite was launched in 2000, it was seen as a regional program. But things changed dramatically when China announced in September 2007
that it was converting its plan for a regional system into a full-fledged GNSS.
"US and Chinese representatives have met three times to discuss coordination of frequency compatibility between GPS and Galileo. I have not heard of a formal agreement having been reached on the subject, however, US officials have told me that China appears to consider GPS a 'legacy' system with a prior claim to its frequencies, which China will respect," said Gibbons. "As for Galileo, however, the issue of signal compatibility has definitely not been resolved as of the most recent meeting of the bilateral technical working group in December 2008."
To avoid an overly technical description, in a nutshell, assigned frequencies are the sticking point, and whereas the US and China have resolved these issues, the Chinese and the Europeans have not.
Paul Verhoef, head of the Galileo program at the European Commission (EC), describes the talks between China and the Europeans as quite complex.
"Cooperation between China and the European Union in satellite navigation continues. However, we are currently reviewing this cooperation in light of the recent changes in the Chinese and European GNSS policy and programs," said Verhoef. "It is still too early to predict their outcome. The removal of interference through modified signaling is a key element of compatibility which in its turn is the goal of the ongoing technical talks between Galileo and Compass. The EC remains concerned about the current signals of Compass."
The fact that China's launch schedule for Compass is a few steps ahead of the Europeans' launch schedule for Galileo - or perhaps even way ahead - adds another twist to this tale. And yet, Hagt detects one more important reason why the talks between China and Europe are proving to be so difficult. Europe desires greater independence from the US, and is shifting towards a more unified focus on security. In the process, the Europeans are not growing closer to China.
"The Europeans are beginning to consolidate a common security policy with space as an important part of that. We can see that from a number of recent moves such as the Global Monitoring and Environmental System," said Hagt. "China was never under the illusion that Galileo would supplant the need for their own system. But, they were expecting to get far more out of the cooperation in terms of technical know-how, system management and market access."
Besides the fact that China does not consider Galileo to have the same "legacy" status as GPS, Gibbons sees China eager to develop its own commercial market for its Compass user equipment, in direct competition with the GPS market.
"[China] would like to supplant the GPS brand with the Compass brand. However, technologically, [Compass] user equipment will be very compatible - even interoperable - with GPS and other GNSS systems' signals," said Gibbons. "Indeed, China will also try to implement some product differentiators - enhanced capabilities and unique signals and/or services - to achieve a competitive advantage over the other GNSS services, not just GPS. They may well implement such a value-added Compass capability domestically or regionally."
When it comes to military dimensions, Gibbons emphasizes that China and other nations undoubtedly have the ability to jam GPS over wide areas, and that Compass is not needed to accomplish this objective. He refers to the US DoD annual report to Congress, "Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2008," where it states, "UHF-band satellite communications jammers acquired from Ukraine in the late 1990s and probable indigenous systems give China today the capacity to jam common satellite communications bands and GPS receivers."
The phenomenon of satnav hacking, perhaps as a cyber-warfare variant, has not gone unnoticed in Beijing either - see for example, "Number Of Factors May Impede Situational Awareness" by this writer [2].
"DoD's Navigation Warfare (NAVWAR) program under development for the past decade seeks to address a GPS jamming scenario. This can be through countermeasures, typically against ground-based jammers, but with DoD's ASAT capability presumably against space-based jamming should Compass or any other satellite platform (GNSS or otherwise) be used in such a fashion," said Gibbons. "At least equal in the panoply of US contingency planning, though, is creating more robust navigation capabilities that do not depend on a single system, even though GPS clearly is the cornerstone PNT system for NAVWAR."
Gibbons urges readers to consider the broader strategic options and implications of actions taken in any particular situation as well as the fact that China already builds much of the electronics for GPS consumer mass market products.
"What will be the political risk of contravening agreements or assurances given bilaterally or multilaterally to ensure compatibility of GNSS services? What will be the marketplace risk for taking actions against a critical infrastructure on which goods and services worth hundreds of billions of dollars depend, as well as on which other critical infrastructures including those in China supported by GPS such as communications networks and power grids?" asks Gibbons.
As China and the US increasingly mirror each other in terms of relative vulnerabilities, and in capabilities in space - anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons are on this list - and on the ground, Gibbons emphasizes that there is also, "a risk of self-jamming that arises in generating intentional interference in or near a band where one's own space-based PNT signals are located".
"The US has given clear indications that interfering with the availability to GPS is something that it would do only under the most extreme circumstances - although it has retained the right to do so, and probably has done so locally in theaters of conflict," said Gibbons. "As is occurring throughout the world, GPS / GNSS utilization, and therefore, practical dependency [on it] is only going to grow more widespread in China's critical infrastructures and applications."
That said, under the 2004 National Security Presidential Decision directive on space-based positioning, navigation, and timing, the US is seeking to improve methods for interference detection and mitigation as well as broadening the foundation of PNT capabilities overall through its National PNT Architecture initiative, according to Gibbons.
"As with other areas of leadership in GNSS, I believe that the US approach might well be adopted by other nations," said Gibbons.
Either way, the GNSS revolution is well underway. China is deploying Compass quickly and is quite confident that it is heading in the right direction.
China's military awaits new satellites
By Peter J Brown
China wants to become the next big player in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology. Zhang Xiaojin, director of the astronautics department at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, recently confirmed that China will complete its new Beidou 2 or "Compass" GNSS consisting of 30 more satellites before 2015, with 10 or more new Compass satellites scheduled for launch over the next two years.
Since the beginning of the decade, when China's first Beidou (the Chinese word for the Big Dipper constellation) navigation satellites (navsats) were launched, China has moved quickly to transform its small regional navsat system into a full GNSS constellation capable of performing in much the same way as the United States's Global Positioning System (GPS), and Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Compass should be available well ahead of the European Union's Galileo System in the coming decade, although China remains a partner in Galileo, too.
"In September of 2005, the State Council passed a regulation integrating the use of Beidou terminals into government communications, power, planning, mapping, standards and other government agencies, while at the same time issuing language guaranteeing long-term access to a continually upgraded Beidou system," said Gregory Kulacki, senior analyst and China Project Manager at the Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists. "This way they forced everybody to buy the equipment, pumping money and people into the system, while allowing people to continue using GPS, which is a far better system, obviously."
The United States's GPS system is operated and maintained by the US Department of Defense (DoD), while the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) executive committee manages it. The US Coast Guard acts as the civil interface to the public for GPS matters, and the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) GNSS program office develops GPS applications for the aviation industry.
A minimum of 24 GPS satellites constantly orbit the Earth at an altitude of approximately 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers). They provide users with accurate information on position, velocity and time anywhere in the world and in all weather conditions. Each satellite, positioned in one of six orbital planes, circles the Earth twice a day. GPS receivers using signals from two or three or more GPS satellites can determine a user's precise location by comparing the time of the signal transmissions with the actual time of reception. Once the differences are calculated, the GPS receiver fixes the position and displays the relevant data on the user's GPS device.
Given the enormous footprint of GPS, it is important to understand why China is undertaking this project. It goes well beyond a matter of national prestige.
"[China's Compass] GNSS program is driven by the same motives as the other GNSS systems: sovereign control over a critical infrastructure, security purposes, industrial policy [including] building expertise, manufacturing, and [global] markets, and demonstrating possession of another capability of a 'great power'," said Oregon-based Glen Gibbons, one of the world's leading experts on GNSS, and the editor and managing partner of the Inside GNSS website . He has followed Compass closely for years.
"Both Galileo and Compass are motivated by other countries being uncomfortable with relying on a US military-owned GPS system upon which they have become heavily reliant in daily life. While the US has assured [everyone] that GPS would not be denied except in the most dire of circumstances, it cannot give the 100% guarantee that other countries seek," said Dr Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the National Security Decision Making Department at the US Naval War College.
"[China's] expansion or extension into Compass is not surprising. While Galileo is intentionally being developed toward global commercial use, full utilization plans for Compass are uncertain. Certainly navsats have been demonstrated as highly dual-use, so it can be anticipated that the Chinese military, and the navy in particular, will benefit from its availability," she added.
As China's PLA Navy (PLAN) transits the Straits of Malacca and enters the Indian Ocean on patrol, the naval operations support dimension of the Compass GNSS in particular warrants closer attention.
"A successful Compass constellation, combined with a fuller constellation of imaging and communication satellites, will serve as much a military enabler for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as it has for the US military. Compass is a key requirement for the PLA to eventually become a global military player," said Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the Washington DC-based International Assessment and Strategy Center. "Compass will enable the first form of PLA global power projection by guiding land-attack cruise missiles fired from PLAN ships and submarines."
Given that the US quickly fired submarine-launched, GPS-guided cruise missiles to retaliate against suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan after the 1998 US Embassy bombings, for example, and did so without any prior declaration of war, Fisher wonders if China might pursue the same course of action against some global supporters of Tibetan or Taiwanese freedom deemed "terrorists" by China.
"Might these individuals come to be on the receiving end of Chinese cruise missiles? Or should their state of residence become dependent on Chinese Compass services, would this then be used as political leverage?" asks Fisher. "This is not simply a 'natural and expected' power shift."
The emergence of Compass and the larger PLA-controlled space architecture is critical if China intends to construct competing strategic networks on Earth.
"Consider the China-allied 'axis of evil' states being able to access intimate imagery online combined with guaranteed Compass signals for their munitions. Iran’s desire to attack Israel with nuclear weapons may diminish, but with a corresponding increasing temptation to initiate strikes against Israel with a new variety of non-nuclear precision weapons," said Fisher.
Taiwan is well aware of the fact that Compass could be employed for short-range precision missiles - both ballistic and cruise.
"It will also provide China with far more reliable and effective navigation and positioning of force deployment," said Eric Hagt, China program director at the World Security Institute in Washington DC. "Greater maneuverability, battlefield awareness and the use of precision guidance, both short and long range, would have obvious impact for a regional conflict [such as one involving] Taiwan or over the South China Sea's energy resources or one that takes place far from China’s borders."
Fisher also predicts that as China's completion date for Compass draws near, pressure will mount for nations to launch competing GNSSs. For example, the first satellite for Japan’s Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) will be launched next year by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. QZSS is intended to augment or compliment the GPS system by offering better GPS service coverage in Japanese urban areas. India is also openly pursuing its own GNSS solution.
"Washington, which has in the past sought to oppose Galileo for both efficiency and political reasons, will be pressured to actually promote new navsat competitors to Compass, [and] to ensure new levels of redundancy which will offer the best passive defense against China’s potential control of navsat services," said Fisher.
China's deployment of Compass as an independent GNSS for commercial, civil and national security reasons comes at a time when China has been improving its overall transparency, and, "their policy principles are familiar and compatible with positions the US has supported for years", said Scott Pace, director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute.
Among other things, Pace expects China to create a GNSS which is completely interoperable with the large installed base of existing GPS users.
"This is not only good economic sense, but will increase incentives for other providers, such as Europe and Russia, to also be interoperable and use open interfaces as customers will be reluctant to adopt closed, proprietary systems," said Pace.
While he points to the December 2008 meeting at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California as a good example of the multinational cooperative discussions about GNSS-related matters now that underway, his optimism is tempered somewhat. [1]
"I would, however, hope to see more commercial cooperation in non-military technologies between Chinese and US firms in order to ensure that China's entry benefits the millions if not billions of current GPS users, and does not [lead] to friction over spectrum, technical standards, or trade barriers," Pace said.
Gibbons reports that China's involvement in the Galileo project is very much on its own terms. China's Galileo project is overseen by the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC), which signed a cooperation agreement with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) in October 2003. All but about 10 million euros (US$12.8 million) of China's 200 million euro commitment to the Galileo program has been spent on application development and ground infrastructure in China itself.
"These activities may well be winding down as the lessons learned and physical infrastructure developed under the Galileo project are integrated into the larger Compass program," said Gibbons.
When the first Compass geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite was launched in 2000, it was seen as a regional program. But things changed dramatically when China announced in September 2007
that it was converting its plan for a regional system into a full-fledged GNSS.
"US and Chinese representatives have met three times to discuss coordination of frequency compatibility between GPS and Galileo. I have not heard of a formal agreement having been reached on the subject, however, US officials have told me that China appears to consider GPS a 'legacy' system with a prior claim to its frequencies, which China will respect," said Gibbons. "As for Galileo, however, the issue of signal compatibility has definitely not been resolved as of the most recent meeting of the bilateral technical working group in December 2008."
To avoid an overly technical description, in a nutshell, assigned frequencies are the sticking point, and whereas the US and China have resolved these issues, the Chinese and the Europeans have not.
Paul Verhoef, head of the Galileo program at the European Commission (EC), describes the talks between China and the Europeans as quite complex.
"Cooperation between China and the European Union in satellite navigation continues. However, we are currently reviewing this cooperation in light of the recent changes in the Chinese and European GNSS policy and programs," said Verhoef. "It is still too early to predict their outcome. The removal of interference through modified signaling is a key element of compatibility which in its turn is the goal of the ongoing technical talks between Galileo and Compass. The EC remains concerned about the current signals of Compass."
The fact that China's launch schedule for Compass is a few steps ahead of the Europeans' launch schedule for Galileo - or perhaps even way ahead - adds another twist to this tale. And yet, Hagt detects one more important reason why the talks between China and Europe are proving to be so difficult. Europe desires greater independence from the US, and is shifting towards a more unified focus on security. In the process, the Europeans are not growing closer to China.
"The Europeans are beginning to consolidate a common security policy with space as an important part of that. We can see that from a number of recent moves such as the Global Monitoring and Environmental System," said Hagt. "China was never under the illusion that Galileo would supplant the need for their own system. But, they were expecting to get far more out of the cooperation in terms of technical know-how, system management and market access."
Besides the fact that China does not consider Galileo to have the same "legacy" status as GPS, Gibbons sees China eager to develop its own commercial market for its Compass user equipment, in direct competition with the GPS market.
"[China] would like to supplant the GPS brand with the Compass brand. However, technologically, [Compass] user equipment will be very compatible - even interoperable - with GPS and other GNSS systems' signals," said Gibbons. "Indeed, China will also try to implement some product differentiators - enhanced capabilities and unique signals and/or services - to achieve a competitive advantage over the other GNSS services, not just GPS. They may well implement such a value-added Compass capability domestically or regionally."
When it comes to military dimensions, Gibbons emphasizes that China and other nations undoubtedly have the ability to jam GPS over wide areas, and that Compass is not needed to accomplish this objective. He refers to the US DoD annual report to Congress, "Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2008," where it states, "UHF-band satellite communications jammers acquired from Ukraine in the late 1990s and probable indigenous systems give China today the capacity to jam common satellite communications bands and GPS receivers."
The phenomenon of satnav hacking, perhaps as a cyber-warfare variant, has not gone unnoticed in Beijing either - see for example, "Number Of Factors May Impede Situational Awareness" by this writer [2].
"DoD's Navigation Warfare (NAVWAR) program under development for the past decade seeks to address a GPS jamming scenario. This can be through countermeasures, typically against ground-based jammers, but with DoD's ASAT capability presumably against space-based jamming should Compass or any other satellite platform (GNSS or otherwise) be used in such a fashion," said Gibbons. "At least equal in the panoply of US contingency planning, though, is creating more robust navigation capabilities that do not depend on a single system, even though GPS clearly is the cornerstone PNT system for NAVWAR."
Gibbons urges readers to consider the broader strategic options and implications of actions taken in any particular situation as well as the fact that China already builds much of the electronics for GPS consumer mass market products.
"What will be the political risk of contravening agreements or assurances given bilaterally or multilaterally to ensure compatibility of GNSS services? What will be the marketplace risk for taking actions against a critical infrastructure on which goods and services worth hundreds of billions of dollars depend, as well as on which other critical infrastructures including those in China supported by GPS such as communications networks and power grids?" asks Gibbons.
As China and the US increasingly mirror each other in terms of relative vulnerabilities, and in capabilities in space - anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons are on this list - and on the ground, Gibbons emphasizes that there is also, "a risk of self-jamming that arises in generating intentional interference in or near a band where one's own space-based PNT signals are located".
"The US has given clear indications that interfering with the availability to GPS is something that it would do only under the most extreme circumstances - although it has retained the right to do so, and probably has done so locally in theaters of conflict," said Gibbons. "As is occurring throughout the world, GPS / GNSS utilization, and therefore, practical dependency [on it] is only going to grow more widespread in China's critical infrastructures and applications."
That said, under the 2004 National Security Presidential Decision directive on space-based positioning, navigation, and timing, the US is seeking to improve methods for interference detection and mitigation as well as broadening the foundation of PNT capabilities overall through its National PNT Architecture initiative, according to Gibbons.
"As with other areas of leadership in GNSS, I believe that the US approach might well be adopted by other nations," said Gibbons.
Either way, the GNSS revolution is well underway. China is deploying Compass quickly and is quite confident that it is heading in the right direction.
bladerunner
Banned Idiot
Re: china manned space - news and views
A nice little story
Green Comet Approaches Earth
/Green_Comet_Approaches_Earth_999.html
In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and "Bopp" had beat him to it.
Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day. And one day, he did.
Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory.
Ye's finger moved from point to point--and stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye saw it first.
Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now," says Ye.
"My retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet," says Newton, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely on Feb. 1st."
The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.
Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.
In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble.
Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of Earth, utterly harmless.
To see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 3 am. The comet rises a few hours before the sun and may be found about 1/3rd of the way up the southern sky before dawn. Here are some dates when it is especially easy to find:
Feb. 6th: Comet Lulin glides by Zubenelgenubi, a double star at the fulcrum of Libra's scales. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye (it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful proximity. [sky map]
Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects. [sky map]
Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will. [sky map]
Ye notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers," he says.
"The discovery could not have been made without a contribution from both sides of the Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."
Somewhere this month, Ye imagines, another youngster will bend over an eyepiece, see Comet Lulin, and feel the same thrill he did gazing at Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996. And who knows where that might lead...?
"I hope that my experience might inspire other young people to pursue the same starry dreams as myself," says Ye.
A nice little story
Green Comet Approaches Earth
/Green_Comet_Approaches_Earth_999.html
In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and "Bopp" had beat him to it.
Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day. And one day, he did.
Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory.
Ye's finger moved from point to point--and stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye saw it first.
Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now," says Ye.
"My retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet," says Newton, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely on Feb. 1st."
The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.
Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.
In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble.
Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of Earth, utterly harmless.
To see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 3 am. The comet rises a few hours before the sun and may be found about 1/3rd of the way up the southern sky before dawn. Here are some dates when it is especially easy to find:
Feb. 6th: Comet Lulin glides by Zubenelgenubi, a double star at the fulcrum of Libra's scales. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye (it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful proximity. [sky map]
Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects. [sky map]
Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will. [sky map]
Ye notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers," he says.
"The discovery could not have been made without a contribution from both sides of the Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."
Somewhere this month, Ye imagines, another youngster will bend over an eyepiece, see Comet Lulin, and feel the same thrill he did gazing at Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996. And who knows where that might lead...?
"I hope that my experience might inspire other young people to pursue the same starry dreams as myself," says Ye.
Rising China
Junior Member
Re: china manned space - news and views
:china::china::china:
China plans space docking in 2011
By: AFP
Published: 1/03/2009 at 01:40 PM
BEIJING — China will launch a space module next year and carry out the nation's first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, state media said on Sunday. China will launch a space module next year and make its first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
The Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace-1" is scheduled for launch in late 2010 and will dock with a Shenzhou-8 spacecraft early the following year, Xinhua news agency said.
"The module is designed to provide a 'safe room' for Chinese astronauts to live and conduct scientific research in zero gravity. Weighing about 8.5 tonnes, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term unattended operation, which will be an essential step toward building a space station," the report said.
Space programme officials have previously said China plans to place in orbit several modules like the Tiangong and link them up to form a semi-permanent space platform.
It was not immediately clear if the Tiangong-1 would eventually serve as China's first manned space station, or whether it would only be a platform to test docking and space station technology.
The planned 2011 space docking would be remotely carried out by scientists on the ground and would not involve ast! ronauts, the report said.
:china::china::china:
China plans space docking in 2011
By: AFP
Published: 1/03/2009 at 01:40 PM
BEIJING — China will launch a space module next year and carry out the nation's first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, state media said on Sunday. China will launch a space module next year and make its first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
The Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace-1" is scheduled for launch in late 2010 and will dock with a Shenzhou-8 spacecraft early the following year, Xinhua news agency said.
"The module is designed to provide a 'safe room' for Chinese astronauts to live and conduct scientific research in zero gravity. Weighing about 8.5 tonnes, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term unattended operation, which will be an essential step toward building a space station," the report said.
Space programme officials have previously said China plans to place in orbit several modules like the Tiangong and link them up to form a semi-permanent space platform.
It was not immediately clear if the Tiangong-1 would eventually serve as China's first manned space station, or whether it would only be a platform to test docking and space station technology.
The planned 2011 space docking would be remotely carried out by scientists on the ground and would not involve ast! ronauts, the report said.
- Status