Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday.
The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Space Agency
Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors to complete its communication payload system, with a verification test flight scheduled in 2030, it said.
The other four LEO satellites would be produced through partnerships with Taiwanese firms and overseas contractors, with the ultimate goal of cultivating two small satellite system developers in Taiwan, it said.
Meanwhile, the government would continue the development of remote sensing satellites, including Formosat-8 and Formosat-9, the council said.
The Formosat-8 system would include six high-resolution and two very high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites, with the first satellite scheduled to be launched in October, it said.
The Formosat-9 system would consist of two satellites with synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) capable of all-weather, day-and-night observations.
The system’s first satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2028, the council said.
The two remote sensing satellite systems would create a more comprehensive satellite observation network, it said.
Taiwan Space Agency Director-General Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信) told the legislative committee that at least three of the Formosat-8 satellites would be equipped with edge computing capabilities.
Older satellite models collect and send raw data to ground stations for analyses, which often results in latency, consumes significant bandwidth and incurs high costs, the council said.
Satellites equipped with edge computing capabilities can filter and compress data in real time and conduct preliminary analyses, it said.
Only the results of analyses or signal errors would be transmitted to ground stations, greatly enhancing the efficiency of data transmission, it added.
The next generation of satellites would have artificial intelligence functions, enabling real-time object detection, environmental monitoring, and advanced level autonomous data processing and decisionmaking, the council said.
Formosat-8 is scheduled to be delivered to the US in August for launch following a final calibration, Wu said.
“We are aiming to gradually raise the domestic component ratio in satellites to 95 percent,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-ping (鍾佳濱) asked if SAR-equipped satellites can be used to support the military and the Coast Guard Administration in detecting Chinese rubber boats illegally entering Taiwan, given the difficulties in identifying such vessels with onshore radar systems.
Wu said that it is technically feasible if there are enough SAR-equipped satellites, adding that a broader range of observations can also be possible with the combination of SAR and uncrewed aerial vehicles that can stay in the air for more than 10 hours.
SAR can generate an image of nearly stationary objects, while inverse SAR can capture moving objects with precision, he said, adding that the agency would be glad to offer technical advice for such applications.
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