Navigation systems have become an indispensable tool for us to travel, whether it is daily life or long-distance travel.
In addition, navigation systems also play a vital role in other areas such as agriculture, positioning, urban transportation, etc.
There are four independent satellite navigation systems in the world: China's Beidou, the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.
With the unremitting efforts of a generation, China has successfully developed and applied the "Beidou" navigation system. Over time, the Beidou system has surpassed the GPS of the United States in many ways.
In the process of developing the Beidou satellite, the EU suddenly issued an invitation to us for cooperation, saying that it can not only help us increase our experience in the construction and research of satellite navigation systems, but also help enhance China's international status.
Therefore, we gladly accepted the invitation of the European Union and invested 2 billion yuan for cooperation. However, in the R&D process, the EU excluded us.
Today, the EU's "Galileo" satellite navigation system has been completely suspended due to technical problems, while our Beidou navigation system has been advancing all the way and is among the world's leading levels.
The importance of navigation satellites lies in the fact that in 1990, during the war with Iraq, the United States decided to apply it to the battlefield, although its GPS system technology was not yet mature, which was the first time in the world that a navigation satellite system was applied to the battlefield.
Although the GPS system still has many shortcomings, its role in the Gulf War is amazing. In this battle, the position of the Iraqi army had nowhere to hide, and the American army won in a short time with fewer troops.
The U.S. military successfully locked down and attacked Iraq's bases, and at the same time turned off their GPS positioning system, disabling the Iraqi troops' radar, defense system, and command system.
After the end of the Gulf War, countries around the world began to realize the importance of satellite navigation and increased their efforts in related research. The campaign also made it very unlikely that GPS would be excluded from history.
Many years ago, Europe decided to independently develop the Galileo satellite navigation system because it was dissatisfied with the dominance of the GPS system in the United States to get rid of the control of the United States.
However, during the development process, they encountered many difficulties, the slow progress of the project, and the high cost of research and development, which made the Galileo project difficult.
At the same time, China has also begun to independently develop satellite navigation systems, which are also facing technical difficulties and challenges. At this critical juncture, the European Union has extended an invitation to our country to cooperate, but only if China needs to invest 2300 million euros.
This was a huge expense for China at the time, but the investment was worth it if the technology could be used against possible future threats.
In the end, China agreed to cooperate and sent researchers to participate in the research and development of the Galileo project. In general, although Europe and China have encountered difficulties in the research and development process, they have successfully achieved technology sharing through cooperation, improved their respective satellite navigation technology levels, and made important contributions to the development of global satellite navigation systems.
However, the process of cooperation has not been smooth sailing. In the early stages of the collaboration, our researchers were repeatedly ostracized by members of the European Union Institute, who were reluctant to share their technology and experience, and even secretly used small means to obstruct our research.
When our researchers found that they could not access the core technology and could not get any benefits from it, we sent relevant personnel to communicate with the European side many times, but the European side never gave a clear answer, only vaguely hoped that China could increase investment in this research.
At the same time, the United States has begun to intervene in this matter, and they have used various means to obstruct China's development. Under the ** of the United States, the European Union finally chose to abandon cooperation with us and cooperate with the United States instead.
For such behavior of the EU, their relevant personnel also came out to explain: "This is to protect the country's intellectual property rights." "What a ridiculous excuse!
Since all EU countries are already involved in R&D, what are the intellectual property rights to talk about? "Do not take a position, do not allow you to browse the materials, do not provide technical information". This is what the EU did at that time, and I wonder if there is really sincerity in cooperating in this way?
At that time, European countries had a lot of prejudice and discrimination against China, and the global technological blockade against China made them less friendly to invite China to cooperate.
However, this failed cooperation has brought valuable lessons to our country and made us deeply aware of the importance of independent research and development. We can't pin our hopes on others, and it is the last word to improve our own strength independently.
As a result, China restarted the Beidou program and independently developed its own satellite navigation system - "Beidou" shines.
In the face of the difficult research environment and US sanctions, the researchers were not defeated, but inspired their determination.
Finally, in 2000, China successfully launched the "Beidou" satellite, becoming the third country with independent navigation satellites after the United States and Russia.
Under tremendous pressure, researchers continue to devote themselves to the research and development of "Beidou" II. At the heart of a satellite positioning system is the atomic clock, which is an extremely accurate timekeeping tool.
After the launch of a satellite, even a one-second deviation can cause a positioning deviation of up to 300,000 kilometers. Therefore, China's scientific researchers work intensively every day just to develop satellites belonging to Chinese and break through this key technology.
Through the hard work of China's scientific researchers, in 2007, the "Beidou" No. 2 was successfully launched, which promoted the continuous rise of China's national strength.
In 2009, China started the research and development of "Beidou" No. 3, the average age of the team is only 31 years old, and the youngest scientific researcher is only 20 years old.
They lived up to expectations and made the "Beidou" No. 3 come out of nowhere, shocking the world! Despite the obstruction and various difficulties of Western countries, China has still created one miracle after another!
Beidou-3 is equipped with more advanced technology, and its accuracy has reached the world-class level, and China's satellite positioning technology has become more and more perfect.
At present, a total of 53 "China Earth Orbit Satellites" have been launched, covering more than 200 countries around the world, with stable signals, never malfunctioning, and in many respects have even surpassed the GPS of the United States.
An article once pointed out: "The Beidou satellite navigation and positioning system is an all-weather, all-weather regional navigation system that provides satellite navigation and positioning information, and the establishment of this system will play a positive role in China's national defense and economic construction." ”
At the beginning, the EU did not expect that the "Galileo" satellite navigation system, which frequently fails, would be defeated under the Beidou satellite navigation system independently developed by China, but we are a miracle China, and the Chinese people have proved our strength to the world with perseverance and the spirit of not admitting defeat.
On the other hand, the European Union, which confidently claimed that the Galileo satellite navigation system could catch up with the GPS system of the United States, has now experienced frequent technical accidents.
Previously, the European Union was very confident in their research and development, and claimed that it would be successfully developed and put into use in 2008, but for some reason, the date of the official operation of the Galileo satellite navigation system has been continuously delayed.
During this period, China has successfully launched the "Beidou" satellite and put it into use, ranking ahead of the EU, proving China's strength in front of the world, and slapping the EU in the face.
It wasn't until 2013 that the Galileo satellite navigation system became fully operational, but the system has been very "troubled" since it began.
The EU's "Galileo" satellite navigation system suffered serious failures in 2019 and more recently, not only affecting users around the world, but also raising questions about the EU's technical capabilities.
The EU is silent on the cause of the failure, and only blindly claims that it is technical. Under these circumstances, the EU once again proposed cooperation to China, hoping to learn from the successful experience of China's "Beidou" satellite navigation system.
However, China is no longer the country that has no own technology and is at the mercy of its own people, but has become dominant, and the EU's request will not be easily met.
With the increasing strain of space resources, the EU is facing the problem of frequency shortages when launching satellites again. In order to alleviate this dilemma, the EU has put forward an initiative to cooperate with China.
As a major country, China has shown the spirit of tolerance and openness, and after consultation and negotiation, an agreement was reached in 2015 to achieve the coordination of signal frequencies.
Not only that, China has also established cooperative relations with many countries, such as the GPS system cooperation with the United States, taking advantage of the compatibility of the two systems, providing a new perspective and possibility for the research and development of the world's satellite navigation system.
Only by firmly grasping the core technology can we gain a foothold in the world's competition.