BeiDou Navigation Satellite System

China’s BDS， short for BeiDou Navigation Satellite System has been used in more than half of the world’s countries and places till now. This is a satisfying report card in China’s space technology field.

The system has been offering excellent navigation services to the world since the basic completion of BDS-3 in December， 2018. In June， 2020， its 55th satellite， the last globally networked satellite in the whole program， joined the system and started to work. After three years， in May， 2023， the 56th satellite， the first backup satellite of the system was sent into space.

BDS is our country’s largest satellite system and also one of the four most influential world systems. The others are America’s GPS， Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s GALILEO.

BDS is used in many public services in China and around the world， such as communications， farming， weather and so on. Over 70% of smartphones in China are used with the help of BDS.

For really a long time， China has been using foreign systems for navigation. So in 1994， the country began the research and development of its own navigation system. In 2000， China sent the first two BeiDou satellites to build an experimental system. In 2003 and 2007， another two experimental satellites were sent to join them. In the following years， more of BeiDou’s satellites were sent to space one by one.

北斗衛星導航系統

中國的 BDS（北斗衛星導航系統）迄今已在全球一半以上的國家和地區使用，這是我國在航天技術領域交出的一份令人滿意的成績單。

自2018年12月北斗三號基本系統建成以來，該系統一直在為世界提供優質的導航服務。2020年6月，第55顆衛星，也是北斗三號系統的最后一顆全球組網衛星，加入該系統并投入工作。三年后，2023 年 5 月，第 56 顆衛星，即北斗三號系統的首顆備份衛星被送入太空。

BDS 是我國最大的衛星系統，也是世界上最具影響力的四大衛星系統之一。其他三個系統分別是美國的全球定位系統、俄羅斯的格洛納斯系統和歐盟的伽利略系統。

BDS在我國和世界各地的許多公共服務領域都有應用，如通信、農業、氣象等領域。中國70%多的智能手機都依托于BDS。

我國在過去很長一段時間都在使用受制于國外的導航系統，因此1994 年，國家開始研發自己的導航系統。2000 年，中國發射了首批兩顆北斗衛星，建立了實驗系統。2003 年和 2007 年，又有兩顆實驗衛星加入其中。隨后幾年，更多的北斗衛星被陸續送入太空。

Word Bank

navigation n. 導航；領航

satellite n. （人造）衛星

system n. 系統

influential adj. 有很大影響的