China launched its second “Compass” (also known as Beidou 2) satellite on April 15 as part of a constellation of up to 30 satellites which will form the country’s own GPS network..
The satellite was launched from the Xichang Launch Centre, located in the southwest Sichuan province aboard a Long March 3 launcher.
China intends to launch the complete constellation by 2015 and another 10 satellites by the end of 2010.  The system is designed to provide  support for telecommunications, public security services, meteorological, prospecting, disaster recovery and petroleum exploration.
It is expected …

The US govt has advised that the GPS satellite constellation that run GPS units across the world is close to its life expectancy and no replacement satellites have been launched.
The launch of the replacement satellites have been plagued by delays for the last 18 months, with the first replacement scheduled for November this year.
This has caused some concern, raising questions of the reliability of the GPS network as more businesses and individuals rely on GPS navigation on a day to day basis.
This in the face of increased competition from the …