China is making its presence in the space that is by and large considered U.S. territory, with a satellite navigation system that includes up to 35 satellites and be working in the Asian region by 2008.
Someone’s really panic-stricken.
However, this would probably allow Chinese companies to build Galileo ground receivers, a potentially lucrative market that Europe would like to keep for itself. It would also give China access to the encrypted, and sensitive, public-safety signals. The stakes are high, but can Europe afford to call China’s bluff?
This might also limit U.S. flexibility in space and Mr. Bush who supports American right to deny access to space to anyone because of the fear that some country might not develop or deploy weapons in space. Nevertheless, China is on the verge of completion of the system, which is expected to cover China and parts of neighboring countries, before being expanded into a global network of satellites.
It is not clear right now how the Chinese system would rival the American global positioning satellite system or the EU’s Galileo satellite navigational system which is expected to be built with Chinese participation. But many eye brows are already up.
This surely makes the most number of faces smile, with China the world’s most populated country.But for experts who think that this kicks the door a little more open to a space-war fighting strategy, how about developing a defensive ability space-to-space, not space-to-ground, with emphasis on stopping an asteroid from hitting our planet.
Via: physorg.
