Formosat-5, the first satellite made almost entirely in Taiwan, is to be launched in February next year to collect data for natural disaster evaluation, national security, environmental monitoring, international rescue operations and ocean surveillance.
The National Space Organization (NSO) said the Formosat-5 has passed space environment tests and operational requirements and is ready to launch to replace Formosat-2, an earth observation mission satellite launched in 2004.
Organization Director Chang Guey-shin (張桂祥) said the Formosat-5 is the “most Taiwanese satellite” so far, as the spacecraft is almost entirely made in Taiwan.
On the payload for the satellite would be the first locally made optical remote sensing instrument equipped with the world’s first space-grade metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, which the organization developed in cooperating with the domestic electronics and semiconductor industries, Chang said.
The remote sensing instrument could achieve ground resolution for optical images of 4m for color images and about 2m for black-and-white images, he said, adding that the delivery of such instruments is an accomplishment for national space technology.
On the secondary payload for Formosat-5 is an advanced ionospheric probe, developed by the National Central University, which could provide the highest spatial resolution of ionospheric parameters in the world, the organization said.
The probe could be used to collect data to predict the seismic precursors associated with strong earthquakes and co-seismic effects to help forecast earthquakes, the organization said.
French company Airbus Defense and Space was the prime contractor and segment supplier for the Formosat-2 program, the NSO said.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said the Formosat-5 program marked a milestone in the nation’s space technology development, as the spacecraft, payloads and remote sensing instruments have been developed and engineered locally.
The nation has executed three satellite missions and launched eight satellites since 1991. The Formosat-1 was decommissioned in 2004, while the Formosat-2 and Formosat-3 are still orbiting the Earth, the organization said.
The Formosat-5 — weighing 450kg including payloads and fuel — is to be launched into a two-day revisit Sun-synchronous orbit at 720km altitude and 98.28 degree inclination, and the satellite is expected to be launched with the SpaceX Corp’s Falcon 9 — a two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle — from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the organization said.
Meanwhile, the Formosat-7 program, a follow-on Earth observation mission of the Formosat-3, would launch a constellation of 12 mission satellites and an autonomous satellite to perform occultation studies of the upper atmosphere, the NSO said.
The first constellation of the Formosat-7, consisting of six satellites, is also expected to be launched next year, it said.
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