Data collected by the nation's second satellite, ROCSAT-2, will only be accessible to mission control in Hsinchu, the National Science Council said yesterday.
At the legislature yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kwan Yuk-noan (
Kwan said that he had received "information" from confidential sources that data could be intercepted from the satellite, which was launched last Friday in California.
"I wonder if, under the circumstances, the data that ROCSAT-2 gathers could be intercepted by China," Kwan said.
Wu replied by saying that the satellite had been programmed to orbit the planet 14 times each day, passing over the middle of the Taiwan Strait twice each day.
The first crossing, at 10am, allows eight minutes of imaging time. The second crossing, at 10pm, is used to download the data accumulated on board the craft, Wu said.
"It's impossible for others to download data from ROCSAT-2 because the operation is entirely under our control," Wu said.
Officials said other ground systems receiving the signals would not be able to decode the data.
On May 21, after separating from its rocket 15 minutes after lift-off, ROCSAT-2 commenced a temporary orbit at an altitude of 737km, 14km higher than originally planned.
According to the National Space Program Office (NSPO), the satellite then received a number of commands from the Mission Operation Center in Hsinchu to increase its orbit altitude.
On May 23, the satellite was first boosted to a new temporary orbit 3km higher than before. By yesterday, the satellite had been boosted a total of 34km.
Satisfied with the performance of the satellite so far, the NSPO officials said they were confident they would complete the orbit revision earlier than expected.
Originally, the officials were to spend two weeks moving the satellite from temporary orbit to its operational orbit at an altitude of 891km.
NSPO deputy director Chen Shao-hsing (陳紹興) yesterday told the Taipei Times that the process could be completed within 10 days.
Responding to anxiety over possible data interception, Chen said legislators were clearly underestimating the performance of mission control, which is equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
The software that mission control 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 around 60 satellites.
Chen said the software used at mission control had been uniquely designed for ROCSAT-2.
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