FORMOSAT-2, the nation’s first locally developed ionospheric research and surface mapping satellite, has been decommissioned after 12 years in operation.
The satellite had remained operational eight years past its expected lifespan of five years, but a series of equipment failures finally forced the National Space Organization (NSPO) to pull the plug.
One of its four reaction wheels, which rotate and position the satellite, malfunctioned in 2013, and another one stopped working in June, which meant FORMOSAT-2 could no longer take pictures or make observations, the agency said.
Photo courtesy of the National Space Organization
After weeks of repair efforts, the NSPO determined that the problematic wheels could not be fixed and that FORMOSAT-2 had to be retired.
The agency made its last contact with FORMOSAT-2 during a decommissioning ceremony on Friday at its headquarters in Hsinchu, bringing an end to the nation’s most successful surveillance satellite program.
“With gratitude, we congratulate FORMOSAT-2 for the service it provided. It accompanied us over the past 12 years as we grew up. It is like an old friend, or more like a teacher,” NSPO Director Chang Guey-shin (張桂祥) said. “The satellite made an unparalleled contribution to the nation’s space development.”
The satellite, which cost NT$4.6 billion (US$145.5 million at current exchange rates) to build, was launched on May 21, 2004, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
It circles the Earth once every 103 minutes and passes over Taiwan twice a day.
It was the nation’s only satellite with a daily revisit capability, meaning it could take pictures of a given location every day, and the only one that could photograph the polar regions.
The satellite took about 2.55 million pictures of the Earth’s surface.
The pictures brought in about NT$600 million in revenue, while images worth about NT$1.1 billion were provided to 191 government agencies and 176 academic institutions in Taiwan free of charge.
The satellite helped with scientific research, environmental monitoring, urban planning and natural disaster prevention and evaluation.
FORMOSAT-2 was used in 343 disaster response missions, providing authorities with immediate images of damaged areas during the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004, Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005, the Sichuan earthquake in China in 2008, Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan in 2009 and the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.
For eight days after Morakot hit Taiwan, the satellite took detailed pictures of all areas damaged by the typhoon to help the government evaluate the situation and plan its emergency response.
FORMOSAT-2 was also the first satellite to observe the transient luminous event — an electrical-discharge phenomena well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds — and its observations have been cited in numerous academic research.
Additional reporting by staff writer
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2