Beidou satellite navigation system of China

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About Beidou satellite navigation system(BDS)-

• It consists of two separate satellite constellations. 
• The first BeiDou system, officially called the BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System and also known as BeiDou-1, consisted of three satellites which, beginning in 2000, offered limited coverage and navigation services, mainly for users in China and neighboring regions. 
• BeiDou-1 was decommissioned at the end of 2012. The second generation of the system, officially called the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and also known as COMPASS or BeiDou-2, became operational in China in December 2011 with a partial constellation of 10 satellites in orbit.
• Since December 2012, it has been offering services to customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
• In 2015, China launched the third generation BeiDou system (BeiDou-3) for global coverage. The first BDS-3 satellite was launched on 30 March 2015.
• On 27 December 2018, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System started providing global services
• BDS, which now has a “constellation” of 30 satellites in orbit, began its international outreach once the set up was finished in 2018. 
• It is now in use “in more than half of the world’s countries”.
• Pakistan in 2014 became the first foreign country to set up a Beidou network.
• Beidou has set up a first of three Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) for its network in Thailand in 2013, to serve as a hub for ASEAN. 
• China and Sri Lanka also agreed plans to set up 10 CORS.
• Its application in China now included use in guiding drones, autonomous cars, in agriculture and forestry, as well as launching with Chinese mobile phone companies, using Chinese chips, satellite-powered messaging for smartphones that provides for connectivity in remote areas even in the absence of ground reception. 

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