The next frontier for mankind is outer space and the first step to realizing this dream is to build a colony on the surface of the moon. NASA, ESA, JAXA, Roscosmos and CNSA all have dreams of being the first to build a lunar base like in the science fiction series. Recently, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) announced the development of their own GPS system for the moon.
A total of 21 satellites will orbit the moon to provide GPS capabilities with high accuracy. The launch of this month's geolocation satellite will be done in several phases with the first phase allowing it to be used not only for location tracking but also as an intermediary for communication signals to earth.
The second phase will further increase the number of satellites this time for tracking on the far side of the moon. Once all the satellites are launched, four satellites can be contacted simultaneously to provide more accurate position readings for the astronauts on the lunar surface. This GPS system, when operational, will be useful for travel on the surface of the moon and also facilitate the process of launching and landing spaceships.
China has plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030. They have already become the first country to successfully land a probe on the far side of the moon this year and returned a sample of lunar soil to Earth a few weeks ago.
NASA has already awarded the contract to build a GPS system on the moon to Lockheed Martin while ESA will use their Gallileo GPS satellite network for the same task.