Triton, Taiwan’s first domestically produced weather satellite, was successfully launched into space from French Guiana and entered orbit yesterday morning, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said.
The satellite was launched at 9:36am Taiwan time on Vega, an Ariane space commercial launcher designed with a target payload lift capability of 1,500kg and which has had 22 missions.
Triton was ejected from the launcher about 54 minutes after takeoff and communicated with Troll, a Norwegian research station in Antarctica, at 12:19pm, TASA Director-General Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信) said.
Photo: screen shot from a Taiwan Space Agency livestream
The satellite was scheduled to communicate with a ground station in Taiwan for the first time when it passed by at 8:56pm yesterday, he said.
Triton was scheduled to launch on Saturday, but the mission was postponed after an abnormality was discovered 14 seconds into the countdown. The mission resumed following a 48-hour close inspection of the launch vehicle, Wu said.
The satellite is carrying the Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R), which is tailored to analyze signals reflected by the global navigation satellite system on the surface of the sea to analyze wind speeds, Wu said, adding that data collected by the GNSS-R would be important for climate science research and weather forecasting.
Photo: CNA
Climate researchers and meteorologists can use the satellite to observe extreme weather and typhoons in low-latitude zones of the central Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, Wu said.
About 82 percent of the Triton satellite, including the payload, was developed and manufactured in Taiwan, the TASA said, adding that more than 20 research-and-development units and manufacturers participated in the development of the equipment at the ground station.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) thanked everybody involved in the successful launch of Triton for persevering despite the challenges.
“Not only is this a major step forward for Taiwan’s aerospace industry, but it is also an achievement that should make all Taiwanese proud,” Tsai said.
“The successful launch of Triton has proven that Taiwan has an advantage in manufacturing semiconductors and precision equipment. We absolutely have the capability to advance the global aerospace industry,” she said.
The government is scheduled to launch Phase III of its space program, to which NT$25 billion (US$776 million) would be devoted over 10 years, to build a space industry chain and cultivate next-generation talent in the space industry.
The launch of Formosat-5 in 2017 and Formosat-7 in 2019 showed that Taiwan has the capability to develop its own satellites, Tsai said.
“From the transonic advanced jet trainer AIDC T-5 Brave Eagle, the Hai Kun submarine launch to the launch of Triton into space, we can proudly say to the next generation: Taiwan-made products can be showcased in the international market and can fly in the air, be immersed in the sea and operate in space,” Tsai said.
NO FREE LUNCH: Taiwanese joining the trips to China met TAO and United Front Work officials who urged them to vote for candidates who support closer ties with Beijing The Ciaotou Prosecutors’ Office in Kaohsiung yesterday released two suspects on bail who have been accused of recruiting Taiwanese to join tours to China funded by Beijing and in which they were urged to vote for pan-blue candidates in January’s presidential and legislative elections. The pan-blue camp generally refers to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party, the New Party and the Young China Party, which support closer relations with China. Prosecutors said that a man, surnamed Cheng (鄭), and a woman, surnamed Yeh (葉), who are members of the China Pan-Blue Association, recruited Taiwanese tourists to join tours arranged
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday slammed a proposal by New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, to permit a “significant number” of Chinese students to study and work in Taiwan, saying it would be detrimental to young Taiwanese. At an event on Monday hosted by nine major industrial and business groups, Hou said that if elected, he would reinitiate cross-strait dialogue on the premise that Taiwan’s dignity would not be compromised and that the talks would be held in good faith. The talks would include lifting a ban on Chinese tour groups and
PEACE AND STABILITY: ‘Taiwan can be of tremendous value’ in building resilient supply chains, President Tsai Ing-wen said, as she encouraged closer ties with foreign businesses A Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unlikely for the time being due to the internal challenges and international pressure that China is facing, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the New York Times in an interview shown on Wednesday. “My thought is that perhaps this is not a time for them [China] to consider a major invasion of Taiwan,” Tsai said in a prerecorded interview for the DealBook Summit held by the newspaper on Wednesday. Beijing’s leadership is presently “overwhelmed by its internal challenges” on economic, financial and political grounds, while the international community “has made it loud and clear that war is
COUNTER DISINFORMATION: More engagement and media literacy are needed to push back against misinformation and claims that the US is an unreliable partner, the AIT director said The US is “confident” that Taiwan does not face an imminent threat of a Chinese invasion, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk told a US public radio show, adding that Washington remains committed to defensively arming the nation. She made the comment during an interview on All Things Considered, broadcast on Friday on US-based National Public Radio. “There is an important distinction between making plans and training troops, and getting ready to do something,” Oudkirk said, on whether she thinks Beijing plans to attack Taiwan in the near future. Chinese officials have told Washington that “their preference is for peaceful reunification,
RSS