China is due to launch the final satellite in its global positioning system constellation Beidou, allowing Beijing to reduce its reliance on the US-owned GPS system. China has officially announced that its Beidou global satellite navigation system will be complete in 2020. THERE ARE FOUR GLOBAL SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS There are four global satellite navigation systems either in operation or near completion. Global Navigation Satellite System Known as GLONASS, this is Russia's version of GPS and was operational from 1993 with 12 satellites. Beidou China's Beidou system was first launched in 2000 to cover China but has since expanded globally.

Source: Daily Mail June 22, 2020 08:25 UTC