The country's first low-earth orbiting satellite, ROC Satellite-1 (ROCSAT-1), has completed all the tasks it was designed to perform, the National Science Council said yesterday.
ROCSAT-1, launched on Jan. 27, 1999, had three scientific research missions: ocean color imaging, experiments on ionospheric plasma and electrodynamics, and experiments using Ka-band (20GHz-30 GHz) communication payloads, said council Vice Chairman Shieh Ching-jyh (
Data collected using the satellite's ocean color imager has been used for oceanography studies by institutions around the world, the council said.
"The chlorophyll data can be applied to environmental studies and fishery," said Lee Lou-chuang (
The office also observed the movements of sand storms over the Yellow Sea through its ocean color imaging devices, the council said.
The ROCSAT-1's ionosphere plasma and electrodynamics instrument (IPEI) has also produced data useful in research around the world, the council said. The ionospere is the outermost layer of the earth's atmosphere.
"The IPEI detected an `ionospheric density hole' above Brazil on Bastille Day on July 14, 2000," said Ting Nan-hung (
The biggest magnetic storm for nearly 20 years occurred on that day.
"During the event, an extensive two-dimensional profile of the ionospheric density hole was measured by a satellite for the first time," Ting said.
According to the council, the discovery has drawn international attention. Lee said communications could be affected during magnetic storms because particles may damage communications satellites.
Ting said that the satellite had also conducted three experiments on Ka-band communications.
"The main objective of the experiments is to investigate satellite-signal characteristics at Ka-band over the Taiwan area," Ting said.
The mission life of the ROCSAT-1 was originally supposed to be two years.
"Nevertheless, after four years, the satellite is still in good shape and operates well. The success of the satellite has far exceeded our expectations," Lee said.
The satellite may continue operating for another two years, the council said.
Through the ROCSAT-1 project, the NSPO hoped to build the infrastructure for a domestic space program and to gain experience of space systems engineering, Ting said.
Through the project, NSPO engineers have also learned how to design, manufacture, assemble and test spacecraft buses independently, Ting said.
According to the council, with the NSPO's assistance, four domestic manufacturers obtained technology transfer agreements regarding space-qualified satellite components from foreign manufacturers.
The council said that with the transferred technical know-how, the four manufacturers were able to produce five spacecraft components for ROCSAT-1: the onboard computer, the remote interface unit, the S-band antenna, the filter/-diplexer and the solar array panel assembly.
Following the success of ROCSAT-1, the council said it was preparing to launch ROCSAT-2 and ROCSAT-3.
According to council, ROCSAT-2's missions would include observing upper atmospheric lightning.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods