National Central University (NCU) is to partner with HelioX Cosmos Co and other local businesses to develop a scientific payload to be part of an international mission to the moon in 2023, the university said on Monday.
NCU president Jou Jing-yang (周景揚) signed a memorandum of understanding with HelioX Cosmos founder Bill Chang (張懷謙) via teleconference, the university said in a news release.
It would be Taiwan’s first mission to deep space and the moon, it said.
The mission would be the second collaboration between the institution and the start-up, following a partnership to launch the Ionospheric Dynamics Explorer and Attitude Subsystem Satellite (IDEASSat), a cubesat launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on a rideshare mission on Jan. 24.
HelioX Cosmos, a space services supplier, is the official representative of Japanese firm Space BD, a designated service provider for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The lunar lander is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023, Chang said, but withheld the name of the lander’s developer due to a nondisclosure agreement.
“There will be a lunar ‘gold rush’ in the next decade,” as many other countries have planned new lunar missions, Chang said.
Hopefully, the partnership with Space BD would open up new opportunities for Taiwanese scientists to test their instruments in deep space, he said.
While he had discussed the opportunity with other academic institutions and government agencies, most were reserved about it due to funding and schedule concerns, Chang said.
He would help NCU sign a formal contract with the lander’s developer, he said.
The university’s planned 500g payload would be one of the instruments installed on the lander, NCU Department of Space Science and Engineering professor Loren Chang (張起維) said.
Faculty from the department would be consultants to help local businesses with mission planning and development, integration and testing of components, he said.
While the IDEASSat was successfully launched into orbit 525km above the Earth, operation of its integrated circuit is occasionally interrupted by ionizing radiation, so more information about space radiation needs to be incorporated into future missions, he said.
Meanwhile, the National Space Organization’s (NSPO) phase 3 space technology development program also has a space exploration and scientific innovation program with a budget of about NT$1.45 billion (US$52.47 million).
Since last year, the NSPO has commissioned local scientists to conduct feasibility studies for payloads that could be installed on a lunar orbiter, it said.
It is seeking cooperation with other countries, such as the US and Japan, or in Europe, to determine whether there are missions that Taiwan might join, be they to the moon or Mars, the NSPO said.
It would complete a mission definition for its space exploration program by 2025, it said.
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