Following a media report saying Formosat-5 was transmitting fuzzy images, National Space Organization (NSPO) officials yesterday said they are recalibrating the satellite’s camera, but denied that it had experienced a system failure.
Formosat-5, the nation’s first domestically developed satellite, which cost about NT$5.65 billion (US$187.5 million), was launched on Aug. 25 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was scheduled to start sending images to the NSPO by Sept. 8.
A report published yesterday by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said the imaging capability of Formosat-5 might be compromised after the first set of images it sent back on Sept. 7 were blurry, with some showing stripes and light spots.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The report also said the agency had detected the problem before the satellite’s launch, but failed to calibrate its CMOS chips.
The agency acknowledged that the images were not satisfactory.
The images appear to have only 8m resolution while the satellite should have provided color images down to 4m, National Applied Research Laboratories vice president and NSPO Acting Director-General Wu Kuang-chung (吳光鐘) said.
The focus problem is not caused by any defect in the satellite’s CMOS, Wu said.
One possible cause is vibrations during the satellite’s delivery or launch, but a more in-depth investigation is needed to reach a conclusion, he said, adding that the agency hopes to solve the problem in two or three months.
“NSPO did not observe any similar problems when it tested the satellite on land,” NSPO Deputy Director-General Yu Shiann-jen (余憲政) said.
The agency plans to modify the satellite’s focal length either by adjusting its internal temperature, altering its orbit altitude or improving resolution through image deconvolution software, Yu said, adding that changing its altitude would be riskier.
“We have to confirm whether the focal length is extended or shortened before deciding on which solution to adopt,” Yu said, declining reporters’ requests to provide a worst-case scenario if recalibration fails.
The remote sensing function is the last test of Formosat-5, while all other scientific payloads are functioning normally, Yu said.
“As I have always maintained, the real test of a satellite begins only after it is launched into space,” NSPO Formosat-5 project director Chang Ho-pen (張和本) said, reaffirming that previous tests were smooth.
Asked why the agency could not fix the problem one week after it was found, Chang said the satellite’s heating and cooling takes many steps.
The nation’s next satellite, Formosat-7, is scheduled to be launched next year.
The project is a collaboration between Taiwan and the US.
The problem of Formosat-5 will not affect the Formosat-7 project, which is tasked with a different mission — to gather space weather data, Yu said.
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