Taiwan's on-going satellite programs have demonstrated the nation's ability to play a role as a satellite image exporter and will give it the ability to more accurately determine weather patterns, the National Science Council said yesterday.
The council's National Science Program Office yesterday revealed a series of satellite photographs of 10 cities across the nation and around the world which were taken by the ROCSAT-2, the nation's second satellite. The satellite was launched on May 21 this year.
PHOTO COURTESY THE NATIONAL SPACE PROGRAM OFFICE
"The satellite can easily acquire real-time images of 82 percent of the world's surface," office director Lance Wu (吳作樂) said yesterday at a press conference in Hsinchu.
"The quality of the satellite images, including photos of Beijing, Baghdad, Lhasa, New York and other world cities, demonstrates that Taiwan is ready to play a role in satellite image market," Wu added.
ROCSAT-2 began its downward gaze in June. After the nation was hit by a string of tropical storms and typhoons in July and August, the satellite took pictures of flood and landslide-damaged areas, which became a useful reference for the government to carry out emergency measures.
According to Wu, in mid-August, the satellite began photographing world cities in order to master the adjustment of its instruments. Wu said that the satellite took crystal-clear photos of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Streets, walkways and the Imperial Palace within the Forbidden City were easily identified from the satellite's photos, as it is equipped with an imager with a resolution as close as 2m.
"At mission orbit, the ROCSAT-2 can take pictures of about 80 percent of the land surface of China. However, by adjusting the orbit, it can take pictures of the whole of China," Wu said.
At the press conference, Wu also showed satellite photos of Taipei, Paris, London, Seoul and Belmopan.
Wu said that images taken by the ROCSAT-2 were in high demand among foreign buyers. Recently, images of North Korea had been requested by many countries, which want to know the source of a large explosion that occurred earlier this month.
However, Wu said, pictures taken by ROCSAT-2 will remain off the market until November, when a five-year contract with Spot Image, an exclusive sales agent of the satellite's photos, becomes effective.
According to the office, each photograph will cost about US$3,600, or NT$100,000. Local universities, research centers and government agencies can purchase pictures taken by the ROCSAT-2 at a reduced price of NT$10,000. To protect national security, pictures of Taiwan will not be sold outside of the nation's borders.
"Taiwan will soon become one of the major suppliers in the global satellite image market," council deputy minister Shieh Ching-jyh (謝清志) said.
Shieh said that the council's next project, called the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) will begin with the launch of the ROCSAT-3 satellite. The international collaboration between Taiwan and the US will use a integration of six remote sensing microsatellites to collect atmospheric data to monitor weather patterns and for ionosphere, climate and gravity research.
According to Ting Nan-hung (丁南宏), a council researcher, the project will make use of 2,500 additional observation positions at different altitudes. "Taiwan's weather prediction accuracy will be significantly increased because of the abundant amount of data collected by the ROCSAT-3, particularly for weather patterns that take place in the Pacific Ocean," Ting said.
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