China may have been shunned by the U.S. from joining NASA's outer space endeavors, but this doesn't mean Asia's sleeping giant is giving up on its dreams of realizing advanced outer space missions and whatnot.

According to Popular Science, China is now ready to take the first big step that would hopefully position itself as one of the world's credible space-exploring powers. China is planning on doing this starting with its centerpiece project called Beidou 2, which actually began in January.

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Through this project, China aims to send 35 Beidou 2 satellites in space. The satellites will serve as the signaling force of China's Compass satellite navigation system.

What's interesting about the Compass satellite system is it's more accurate than America's GPS system. Scientists claim the Chinese technology is about 10 times more accurate than the GPS system, which is a transmit only system.

The Compass system has a messaging feature that is perceived to be very useful for Chinese soldiers who are in need of making international communication.

Though China wasn't able to launch its first satellite until 1970, it appears that this decade is giving the country the upper hand against the U.S.

All thanks to Russian technologies, China is catching up and is now ready to take on space programs to different heights, Business Insider reports.

"Beyond: Our Future in Space" author Chris Impey said, "But now the Chinese are innovating and vaulting ahead. They have very young engineers in their space program - very keen, very well trained, very ambitious."

China is currently building its very own space station, the Tiangong 2 space lab, which is expected to become fully operational by 2022. 

Several sources claim China is actually spending as much as $2 billion annually for its space program.

China's move to strengthen its space program comes years after the U.S. barred NASA from allowing the Asian country to join its outer space ventures in 2011. 

Space analysts Miles O'Brien opined that the main reason the U.S. is not allowing China to join its space ventures is because the latter could risk the former's national security, Science Times has learned. 

"There is tremendous skepticism there about China. It is viewed as a foe, it is viewed as a government that seeks to take our intellectual property -- our national secrets and treasure," O'Brien added.

TagsNASA, SpaceX, outer space, Beidou 2, Satellites