The first Taiwan-manufactured weather satellite, Triton, or Formosat-7R, is slated to launch on Oct. 4, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said on Friday.
Triton, or “Wind Hunter” (獵風者) in Chinese, would carry with it a Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) system, which would help the satellite transmit data on the formation of typhoons and other severe weather patterns, the agency said.
The GNSS-R system has more than 10 components and technologies wholly developed by Taiwan, with more than 20 companies participating in the project, it said.
Photo: CNA
The system can gather reflected signals in low-Earth orbit from US-owned GPS satellites, aid in ocean-atmospheric interchange research and estimate the strength of typhoons.
Triton’s launch would help test the system, which, if proven viable, could boost Taiwan’s space industry, it said.
The agency said that 82 percent of the 250kg satellite’s components were made in Taiwan.
Triton’s initial design was completed in 2014, and the final version was approved in 2015, with assembly of the satellite beginning in 2017 and completed last year, the agency said.
The fully assembled satellite passed final checks and has been delivered to the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana for launch on an Arianespace SA rocket.
The launch was initially scheduled for the first quarter of this year, but the failed launch of an Arianespace Vega-C rocket on Dec. 20 last year led to delays, a source said, asking to remain anonymous.
Arianespace said that the launch would proceed last month and switched the carrying rocket from Vega-C to the original Vega.
The company last month pushed back the launch schedule to Oct. 4 at 10:36pm, French Guiana time.
According to specifications on the Arianespace Web site, the Vega, introduced in 2012, has a target payload lift capacity of 1,500kg for missions to a 700km circular orbit.
The mission, VV23, would be carrying the Thailand Earth Observation System-2, and Triton as a secondary load.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
RSS