The FORMOSAT-3, a satellite jointly developed and produced by Taiwan and the US, will be launched on Saturday as originally planned according to the director general of the National Space Organization (NSPO) Lance Wu (
"[After discussing with US representatives] we decided to launch the satellite as scheduled," Wu said.
Minotaur, a four-stage solid rocket that will carry FORMOSAT-3 into outer space, will be launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The launching of the FORMOSAT-3 satellite is part of the "Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC)" project, or FORMOSA/COSMIC. It is a joint project between NSPO and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) of the US.
Earlier media reports had indicated that NSPO might have to postpone the launch date for three weeks after the US Air Force and Orbital Science Corp (OSC), a US rocket developer, had informed the organization that the amount of residual propellants at the fourth stage of the rocket had exceeded its expectation and might increase the chance of failure.
It would have taken the team at least another month to re-test the system if it had decided to change the software in the rocket, according to the reports.
The representatives from the US also told NSPO that the chance of failure that it calculated is within reasonable range, but it would re-evaluate the viability.
National Science Council Deputy Minister Shieh Ching-jyh (
To be on the safe side, Wu said that the NSPO asked the US Air Force and OSC to provide detailed statistics of the rocket so that its staff could do their own calculations. According to Wu, discrepancies existed in the results of speed each calculated.
Formosa-3 consists of six microsatellites, with each weighing approximately 62kg. NSPO plans to place these satellites into six different orbits at 700km to 800km above the earth. Each microsatellite is expected to arrive at their projected orbits in 13 months.
Wu noted that the challenging nature of the project had forced the organization to be cautious in determining the final launch date.
"It would be easy if we only had one satellite," Wu said.
"It would be no problem at all if each microsatellite were launched into orbits in six different tracks, but we want all six to be launched on one track. That is difficult," he said.
The satellite orbits will form a low-earth-constellation and receive signals transmitted by the 24 US Global Positioning System satellites. They will be used to observe global atmosphere and will be able to provide 2,500 global sounding data per day from all over the earth.
If the satellites function as planned, meteorologists will be able to collect and analyze global climate information within three hours. The data will also be updated every 90 minutes.
The project has garnered international attention. Nature, an international weekly journal, gave it detailed coverage soon after the agreement was signed between Taiwan and the US in 2001.
The project requires NSPO to supply relevant information on the ground system interface, whereas UCAR will be responsible for constructing remote traction stations and the network control center.
Media reports have stated that the government has invested NT$ 80 million (US$2.42 million) in the project.
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