ASM
QZSS Progress
The Japanese government has still not committed funds for building the second and third satellite in the QZSS GNSS, and will not until 2011, at the earliest.
The best way to think of the Quazi Zenith Satellite System, says JAXA engineer Satoshi Kogure, is an integrity monitoring system for the GPS. QZSS will not replace GPS; its satellites will improve the usability and reliability of the GPS.
Fully deployed, its three satellites will seem to hover over Tokyo, providing GPS coverage even in the deepest urban canyons.
However, the orbit carries the satellites down to the south of Australia, so the entire South East Asian region will benefit from them.
JAXA has almost finished building QZSS-1. It has completed a master control centre at Tsukuba, and monitoring stations in Guam, Australia and India as well as in Japan.
However, funding for the second and third satellites is conditional on a successful technical and operational evaluation of the first satellite. Since QZSS-1 is due up in mid 2010, a decision will probably not be made before 2011 at the earliest.
QZSS' funding woes have not stopped JAXA trying to excite people about the possibility of QZSS however. JAXA, in association with GISDA and ICG will host a workshop in Bangkok on the week before the next APSARF conference in January.
The workshop will consider GPS+QZSS applications and receivers. The Japanese vision is that this will be the first of a series of annual workshops that look at multi-system GNSS in the Asain context.
