Following a media report saying Formosat-5 was transmitting fuzzy images, National Space Organization (NSPO) officials yesterday said they are recalibrating the satellite’s camera, but denied that it had experienced a system failure.
Formosat-5, the nation’s first domestically developed satellite, which cost about NT$5.65 billion (US$187.5 million), was launched on Aug. 25 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was scheduled to start sending images to the NSPO by Sept. 8.
A report published yesterday by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said the imaging capability of Formosat-5 might be compromised after the first set of images it sent back on Sept. 7 were blurry, with some showing stripes and light spots.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The report also said the agency had detected the problem before the satellite’s launch, but failed to calibrate its CMOS chips.
The agency acknowledged that the images were not satisfactory.
The images appear to have only 8m resolution while the satellite should have provided color images down to 4m, National Applied Research Laboratories vice president and NSPO Acting Director-General Wu Kuang-chung (吳光鐘) said.
The focus problem is not caused by any defect in the satellite’s CMOS, Wu said.
One possible cause is vibrations during the satellite’s delivery or launch, but a more in-depth investigation is needed to reach a conclusion, he said, adding that the agency hopes to solve the problem in two or three months.
“NSPO did not observe any similar problems when it tested the satellite on land,” NSPO Deputy Director-General Yu Shiann-jen (余憲政) said.
The agency plans to modify the satellite’s focal length either by adjusting its internal temperature, altering its orbit altitude or improving resolution through image deconvolution software, Yu said, adding that changing its altitude would be riskier.
“We have to confirm whether the focal length is extended or shortened before deciding on which solution to adopt,” Yu said, declining reporters’ requests to provide a worst-case scenario if recalibration fails.
The remote sensing function is the last test of Formosat-5, while all other scientific payloads are functioning normally, Yu said.
“As I have always maintained, the real test of a satellite begins only after it is launched into space,” NSPO Formosat-5 project director Chang Ho-pen (張和本) said, reaffirming that previous tests were smooth.
Asked why the agency could not fix the problem one week after it was found, Chang said the satellite’s heating and cooling takes many steps.
The nation’s next satellite, Formosat-7, is scheduled to be launched next year.
The project is a collaboration between Taiwan and the US.
The problem of Formosat-5 will not affect the Formosat-7 project, which is tasked with a different mission — to gather space weather data, Yu said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS