Talk:Beidou navigation system

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Contents

[edit] Slashdotted NewScientist Article

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10472-chinas-satellite-navigation-plans-threaten-galileo.html —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.20.76.96 (talk • contribs) .

I added a new paragraph regarding the previous article. --Voidvector 05:34, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Compass SatNav

What is the difference between "Beidou" and "Compass" SatNav system? I understand that China is now trying to expand its Beidou system from just 3 satellites (sloppy; only for regional) into a 35-satellite system. But is this improved Beidou system the same as the new Compass system? See [1]. Thank you. --Heilme 11:04, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Should be called Compass

This article should be renamed the Compass Navigation Satellite System.

Beidou is the name of the individual satellites in the system. The system itself is called "Compass." --128.135.96.162 21:50, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Improvements and comments

Potential sources to add
Its name?

For what its worth, the names Compass and Beidou seem to be used interchangeably at present to whatever name suits the purpose of the news article being published.

Copy from GNSS

The following copy from GNSS sounded like a lot of info. It might be all original research, but I don't want Yongke to think I was dumping his edits to GNSS. If its good material, it should be integrated into this article first.

China indicated it may expand its currently fully working regional system Beidou-1 into a global navigation system, the Beidou-2, which some western press has labeled Compass Navigation System (CNSS). The Beidou-1, which currently covers china and it's surrounding regions, was completed in 25th May of 2003, and became available to civilian use in April of 2004. However, the accuracy of the Beidou-1 regional system is limited and much was left to be desired. While some military and most of the civilian sectors had geared up to use the more accurate American made GPS or the Russian made GLONASS, it would be disadvantage to the government rely on foreign satellites in times of crisis. For these reasons, the Beidou-2 navigation system are currently being developed and the first experimental satellite for the system had being launched as of 3rd Feb 2007 with more planned for early 2007. - added by User:Yongke.

[edit] Big Dipper, not North Star

In Chinese, 北斗 (Beidou) is the Big Dipper. The North Star is 北極 (Beiji). Jpatokal 10:50, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No clean-up needed

I can't see any need for clean up. Chasnor15 (talk) 20:33, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] OK for now

Being partly a Compass specialist (at least an author of a paper on Compass), I think the article is tolerable, but some thoughtful modification could help to make it more clear. I want to write more about Compass but this shall go in the Compass article. You see, the problem is that there is no such thing as "Beidou navigation system", but there are two independent systems: Beidou-1 and Beidou-2. So in fact having 2 independent articles would bemore logical. On the other hand, Beidou-1 is completely shrouded in secrecy, so not so much can be added on top of what is already said in this article. On the other hand, there is a lot more information on Beidou-2 which shall keep attracting atttention for many years to come. To make the naming issue more clear: Compass is a European name,used in Western literature, while the Chinese call it Beidou-2. I suggest to leave the article as is but after the Compass paper shall be done, edit the text to make the terminology and the relationship between the systems more clear. Asimsky (talk) 10:42, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Compass page augmented

I wrote a new Compass page with more details--Asimsky (talk) 09:08, 17 May 2008 (UTC)