In the 20th century, the United States vied with the Soviet Union for space supremacy. Now, in the new century, America has a different rival — China — and a key battle is already brewing in the critical area of satellite navigation (satnav). Right now, the U.S. is falling behind.

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Sean Gorman is the CEO and co-founder of Zephr.xyz, a developer of next-gen location-based solutions. Gorman has a more than 20-year background as a researcher, entrepreneur, academic and subject matter expert in the field of geospatial data science and...