Final preparations are under way for the launch of Formosat-5, Taiwan’s first domestically developed and built satellite, from a US air base next week, an official said on Friday.
The satellite, which arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California last month, is scheduled to be sent into space on Thursday.
The National Space Organization’s (NSPO) Formosat-5 project director Chang Ho-pen (張和本) said that testing in past weeks indicated that the satellite is functioning normally.
Screengrab from the SpaceX Web site
Although it took some time to integrate Formosat-5 with its launch vehicle, SpaceX’s Falcon 9, work has been successfully completed, Chang said.
Through Formosat-5, Taiwan will show the world that it is capable of independently building satellites, he said.
The satellite was designed by the NSPO and built by more than 50 domestic teams, including teams from CMOS Sensor Inc and National Central University.
The high-resolution optical remote-sensing satellite is the NSPO’s fourth satellite since its space program started in 1991, and the first to be fully produced domestically, from design and manufacture to assembly and testing.
It is to replace Formosat-2, which was retired in August last year.
Formosat-5 is to collect data for scientific research, passing over Taiwan once every two days, the NSPO said.
The satellite is to provide 2m panchromatic and 4m multispectral resolution images for a wide array of applications, including governmental, disaster forecasting and mitigation, national security and environmental observation tasks, as well as international technological exchanges, academic research and international humanitarian assistance, the NSPO said.
The satellite is to carry an Advanced Ionospheric Probe, which can develop weather models in space, monitor ionospheric disturbances and study seismic precursors associated with earthquakes, the organization said.
It took six years and NT$5.7 billion (US$188 million) to develop the 450kg satellite, which is 2.8m high, and 1.6m in diameter, the NSPO said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS