When the eighth-century poet Wang Chih-huan (王之渙) wrote the famous lines, "If more distant views are what you desire, simply climb a storey higher (欲窮千里目, 更上一層樓)," he was not likely imagining that people 13 centuries later would follow the spirit of his words by launching satellites into space.
Wang's lines were used by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Friday as part of the congratulatory address he delivered to the team responsible for the launch of the nation's second satellite, ROCSAT-2.
PHOTO: QUICK BIRD SATELLITE IMAGE, NATIONAL SPACE PROGRAM OFFICE
"In addition to broadening our ability to observe not only Taiwan but also the rest of the world, ROCSAT-2 increases our scientific knowledge," Chen said as he started, by remote link, ROCSAT-2's digital signal processor.
Chen was speaking at the Presidential Office, where a launch ceremony was being held simultaneously with a ceremony that was taking place at the National Space Program Office (NSPO) in Hsinchu.
Capable of producing images of objects as small as 2m across, and with its orbit set so that it can pass over Taiwan twice daily, ROCSAT-2 will provide timely and useful images of sites all over the nation.
"The satellite will provide useful applications for fields including utilities, agricultural and forestry planning, environmental monitoring, natural disaster evaluation and scientific research," NSPO Director Lee Luo-chuan (
The satellite is orbiting the planet 14 times a day and passes over the middle of the Taiwan Strait twice a day. The first daily pass-over of Taiwan, at 10:00am, allows eight minutes of imaging time. The second visit, at 10:00pm, is used to download to earth the data accumulated on board the craft.
Military purposes?
According to Lee, the satellite can provide imaging of the entire island of Taiwan by producing just four neighboring image strips -- assuming that the weather co-operates.
Also, through elevation-angle maneuvering, three-dimensional imaging data can be produced.
Lee said that the satellite can take photos of almost any spot on the globe and has great promise as a commercial supplier of satellite images.
"Marine pollution, coastal smuggling and other applications -- you name it," Lee said.
Although some have wondered whether the satellite could be used for military purposes, NSPO officials maintain that ROCSAT-2 was designed only for civilian purposes.
In the past, Taiwan has been one of the world's biggest buyers of satellite information. Each year the government and private research institutions spend large amounts of money on satellite data -- data covering topics from climate to topography.
"Because of ROCSAT-2, Taiwan can now become a satellite image exporter," Lee said.
According to the NSPO, two research institutes in Japan have asked about purchasing ROCSAT-2's images. Acquiring up-to-date satellite images of the areas near Japan -- including North Korea -- became an urgent need for Japan after two recent satellite projects failed, officials said.
Better clarity
NSC Deputy Minister Shieh Ching-jyh (
"Importantly, Taiwan can operate the satellite independently for various purposes," Shieh said.
Chen Shao-hsing (
Also expressing interest so far in purchasing images are world-class commercial satellite-image suppliers such as QuickBird, Space Imaging's IKONOS and SPOT.
Citing as examples high-resolution QuickBird images of Kaohsiung Harbor and Taipei City, Chen said the unit price for such images exceeds NT$360,000.
"In the future, ROCSAT-2 will produce similar but even more valuable images due to the better clarity we will be able to achieve," Chen said.
Meanwhile, the NSPO's Image Processing System (IPS), an integrated hardware and software system that handles remote-sensing image data, has generated interest among universities engaged in disaster prevention and geographic research.
Last August, NSPO demonstrated the capabilities of IPS, which can receive and generate remote-sensing image data from satellites. To date, 10 research units from various universities have placed orders for the machine, whose unit price is NT$5 million.
"Taiwanese businesses engaged in image-processing might also get a boost from the availability of clear satellite images from ROCSAT-2," Chen Shao-hsing said.
Wei Che-ho (
The satellite, costing NT$4.7 billion, was designed and built by the NSPO in collaboration with Astrium Co of France.
After the project got under way in 2000, Astrium chose six Taiwanese companies as sub-contractors: Acer Sertek, which manufactured ROCSAT-2's on-board management unit; Tatuing System Technology, which developed the craft's on-board flight software module; Shihlin Electric and Engineering, which manufactured the sun sensor; Victory Industrial, which produced S-band antennas; Aerospace Industrial Development, which manufactured the flight harness; and Taiwan Aerospace, which designed and manufactured the vertical installation dolly.
Lightning
"We hope that domestic firms will be able to replace foreign companies and become major contractors for satellite projects," Wei said.
In addition, NSC officials said that ROCSAT-2 would make the nation a potential leader in the hot field of upper-atmospheric lightning research. This type of lightning -- characterized by rarely-observed transient luminous events -- is split up into three categories: lighting-induced red sprites, upwardly discharging blue jets and gigantic jets.
Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆), new council minister, said ROCSAT-2 would increase the value of existing research in lightning-related fields.
"ROCSAT-2 will be the first satellite to observe these phenomena from space," Wu said.
Red sprites were not observed by scientists until 1989. The discovery triggered a series of observations leading to the discovery of blue jets and gigantic jets in the 1990s.
In May 2001, a team composed of scientists from National Cheng Kung University -- scientists who were involved in the ROCSAT-2 project -- used a CCD camera at A-Li Mountain (阿里山) to record images of red sprites occurring above China's Guangdong Province.
On July 22, 2002, the team recorded five gigantic jets over the southern tip of Taiwan.
The upper bodies of the gigantic jets, which were observed for just 800 milliseconds, were similar to those of red sprites, but their lower bodies resembled those of blue jets.
The observations were published in the world-class science journal Nature in June of last year.
To mark the success of ROCSAT-2's liftoff, the researchers published on their Web site photos of red sprites taken on May 13.
Higher orbit
Following ROCSAT-2's liftoff, engineers at the Mission Operation Center (MOC) at the NSPO's headquarters in Hsinchu are spending 10 to 14 days transferring the satellite from a temporary orbit to a higher one -- at 891km.
The software that the MOC uses was developed by Integral Systems, a US company that builds ground systems for satellites. Integral's biggest customer is the US Air Force, which operates about 60 satellites.
Chen Yen-wu (
NSPO officials said that technology transfers involving ROCSAT-2 have aided in the development of the nation's scientists. During the life of the ROCSAT-2 project, Integral Systems has transferred to local engineers and scientists technology related to controlling satellites, processing payload data and other areas.
"Like my colleagues, I'm proud to have received information from ROCSAT-2 earlier than other people. It's quite an exciting national project," Charlie Liao (
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of