The nation’s first domestically made satellite, Formosat-5, is to become commercially operational in September, when its image resolution is expected to have improved, the National Space Organization (NSPO) said.
Launched on Aug. 25 last year, the satellite has taken more than 6,000 sets of images as of this month, the organization said.
It has helped monitor many disasters worldwide, including the volcanic eruptions of Mount Agung in Indonesia in November last year, a wildfire in Ventura County, California, in December last year and oil pollution in the East China Sea caused by the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi in January, it said.
French satellite image supplier Spot Image Co in March said that it intends to purchase the colorful images transmitted by Formosat-5, it added.
While the satellite transmitted some striped images tainted with light spots in September last year, the organization said it has managed to improve its imaging capability by adjusting the temperature of the satellite’s components and shortening its focus.
Formosat-5 was designed to achieve 2m resolution for black-and-white photographs and 4m for color images, but now it can record 3m for black-and-white photographs and 5m for color ones, the organization said.
Another image adjustment is scheduled for September and the satellite’s image resolution is expected to improve, it said.
The organization is contacting domestic and foreign governmental and academic agencies that might be interested in buying its images, NSPO Director-General Lin Chun-liang (林俊良) said.
The 12 small satellites making up Formosat-7 are to be launched by the end of this year, Lin said, adding that they would continue Formosat-3’s task of providing more precise and comprehensive data about weather.
While Formosat-3 was the world’s first satellite to conduct observations using a radio occultation technique, it could only receive US GPS signals, Formosat-7 project head Chu Chung-hui (朱崇惠) said.
By comparison, Formosat-7 would be able to receive US GPS and Russian GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System signals, and would collect up to 4,000 charts of changes to atmospheric pressure, temperature and moisture every day, double what Formosat-3 was capable of, she said.
Above all, Formosat-7’s weather forecast precision rate would be 6 percent better than its predecessor’s, Chu added.
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