BeiDou-3 goes global
China activates BeiDou-3, beginning the constellation's global expansion. By the end of the decade BeiDou will have more visible satellites in the sky over much of the world than GPS itself.
A working catalogue entry, kept current. Each paragraph is drawn from the publicly documented record.
China launches the first BeiDou-3 satellites in 2015, beginning the constellation's expansion from regional to global service. By July 2020, with 30 satellites in orbit, BeiDou achieves global operational capability — the first sovereign GNSS challenger to actually deliver a full-Earth signal.
By 2024 BeiDou is, on average, the GNSS with the most visible satellites in the sky over much of the world, and the political demonstration that a sovereign global PNT alternative is technically and economically achievable. The implication for every other state is the same: the only thing standing between you and your own GNSS is decades of sustained political will and the budget to match.
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