Source: CNKI
In our daily life, when we encounter unfamiliar places, turn on our mobile phones, positioning can inform us of the accurate location we are, and navigation can guide us to the places we want to go.
All this stems from the development of the Beidou satellite.
Since the development of Beidou satellites, the coverage and accuracy have become higher and higher. Today, we use navigation that can even read out the number of seconds at a traffic light in real time, which can indicate that there is a fast vehicle passing behind.
Compared to the past, our daily travel is much more convenient.
The use of Beidou satellites covers not only daily life, but also involves national defense and military, and its importance can be seen.
However, the history of the development of the mainland's satellites is not very long, and for a long time, the mainland's satellite system has always been constrained and restricted by the United States.
One. The United States has a monopoly on satellites
In the 50s of the last century, the United States launched the first artificial satellite "Explorer-1". Since then, the United States has officially entered the field of space exploration and begun a "space struggle" with the Soviet Union.
At that time, the United States and the Soviet Union were the two major powers in the world, and their scientific and technological level and comprehensive national strength were ahead of other countries.
The struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union has gradually entered a white-hot stage, and in order to catch up with and surpass the Soviet Union in the satellite industry, the United States has continuously invested a large amount of money in the research and development of satellites.
In the 90s, after decades of development, the United States satellite technology has successfully launched 24 artificial satellites, covering the whole world, far ahead of all countries in the world.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States' artificial satellite naturally began its career as a "dominant family".
At that time, there were only a handful of countries in the world with independent satellites. Many countries rely on US satellites, and China is no exception. In this way, the initiative is all in the hands of the Americans.
In the early 90s, the mainland clashed with the United States over the navigation of ships, and the Americans insisted that the mainland's ships carried raw materials for biological and chemical weapons when they sailed on the high seas.
This is completely groundless, and China is left to argue, but it still uses the GPS system developed by the United States.
The Americans did not speak of martial virtues, and in order to intercept our ships, they directly turned off the navigation signals in this sea area.
In the endless sea, the ship lost its navigation system and lost its navigation direction in an instant, and could only be forced to stay at sea for a long time, waiting for rescue.
The United States is already dissatisfied with its use of satellite superiority to strike at other countries. Many major countries have come up with the idea of developing their own satellites, and the same is true for China.
After this experience, China has strengthened its determination to develop satellites.
Two. China's Beidou satellite breaks the US monopoly
In fact, the mainland's time to develop satellites is not much shorter than that of the United States.
As early as 1958, the pre-research plan for the satellite was proposed, and in 1970, the mainland's first self-developed "Dongfanghong No. 1" satellite was successfully launched.
However, this was only a test satellite, and it could not be compared with the mature satellites that had been put into use in the United States at that time.
At that time, China was still in a relatively backward stage of science and technology, with underdeveloped manufacturing and limited capital.
At that time, the development of satellites was unprecedented, and there was no experience of predecessors to refer to.
The most difficult thing is that Western countries do not support our independent research and development of satellites, and they have imposed a technological blockade on us.
Sophisticated raw materials cannot be imported from abroad, and good signal frequency bands are also occupied by Western countries.
In front of the Chinese scientific research team, it is not only technical problems, but also a race against time and countries to compete for the "golden frequency band" used by satellites.
Fortunately, when it comes to tackling difficult problems, the Chinese will not back down. The scientific research team has worked hard and worked overtime, and the mainland's satellite industry is gradually improving.
Finally, in 2003, the mainland successfully established the "Beidou-1" satellite system, and since then it is no longer controlled by others.
In 2004, the Beidou-2 project was officially launched, expanding the service area of the Beidou satellite to the entire Asia-Pacific region. China's Beidou satellite has broken the long-standing monopoly of the United States.
In 2012, China became one of the four major international satellite navigation service providers.
After making tremendous achievements, the scientific research team did not slack off, but worked hard to push China's satellite system to a higher level again and again.
After dozens of Chinese New Year's Eve and day after day and day research, the Beidou navigation system will be fully completed in 2020, and the service scope will cover the world.
The Beidou system not only does not lose to the GPS system, but also completely breaks the monopoly of the United States.
Three. Crazy 530 billion, 137 countries rush to pay, how powerful is the Beidou satellite?
The Beidou satellite has a wide coverage, small transmission error, high precision, and can transmit its own location to a third party even if the ground communication is completely cut off.
This is of great significance for search and rescue operations.
Relying on the increasingly powerful function of Beidou satellite, AutoNavi has also successfully launched the function of "world map".
Even in a foreign country where you are not familiar with your life, you can use the navigation as well as you do at home, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. Not only does it cover a wide area, but the real-time monitoring function of the Beidou satellite is also very powerful.
When the vehicle is moving, it can understand the congestion ahead in real time, and it can also calculate the time to pass through the congestion in real time.
In addition to civilian use, the Beidou system plays a major role in the military, national security, etc. In all aspects, all demonstrate the hard core power of the Beidou system.
Therefore, the Beidou satellite has also set off a violent response in the world, 137 countries have signed contracts with the mainland, this number is still rising, and more and more countries are willing to use China's satellite system.
While winning the trust of countries around the world, the Beidou system has also brought a lot of financial revenue to the mainland.
On May 18, the China Satellite Navigation and Positioning Association released the "2024 White Paper on the Development of China's Satellite Navigation and Location Service Industry" in Beijing.
According to the white paper, the overall output value of the mainland's satellite navigation and location service industry will reach 536.2 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 7.09% over 2022.
The domestic Beidou application market is constantly expanding, the application of "Beidou +" and "+ Beidou" in various fields has been further deepened, the application scenarios have been further expanded, and the application scale and quality have been further improved;
At the same time, the continuous improvement of Beidou's international influence will also drive the development of Beidou's overseas applications, and many domestic companies have vigorously expanded overseas markets, with a significant increase in related revenue, with a year-on-year growth rate of 15%.
The Chinese relied on their own manufacturing and research and development, from scratch to leading at a high level, all of which shows that the choice of the original arduous satellite road was correct.
Today, the Beidou system has not stagnated, it is still developing steadily, and I believe that the system will be more mature in the future, and more and more countries will believe in Made in China.
Resources:
CNKI's "Research on the Organization of the American Satellite Industry" - Li Zhuojian
CNKI "The Construction Process of China's Beidou Satellite Navigation System" - Wang Jingjin, Li Chengzhi