Rocket scientist Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信) has officially assumed the position of National Space Organization (NSPO) director-general, the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said on Monday.
Wu took over the official seal from former acting director-general Yu Shiann-jeng (余憲政) at a ceremony at the NSPO’s headquarters in the Hsinchu Science Park, with NARL president Wu Kuang-chong (吳光鐘) overseeing the ceremony, the NARL said in a news release.
Wu Jong-shinn specializes in system engineering, hybrid rocket propulsion and plasma physics, among other areas, it said.
Photo courtesy of 2030.tw through the National Applied Research Laboratories
The Space Development Act (太空發展法), which was promulgated in June, provides the legal basis for the promotion of the nation’s space technology and industry, he was quoted as saying in the news release.
Wu Jong-shinn expressed the hope that he would help Taiwan reinforce the foundations of space technologies and foster the growth of local space industry supply chains and space start-ups.
He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from National Taiwan University and his doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan in 1994.
In 1995, Wu Jong-shinn returned to Taiwan to work at the National Space Program Office — the NSPO’s predecessor — and in 1998 started teaching at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU, renamed National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in February).
In 2012, Wu Jong-shinn founded the Advanced Rocket Research Center at NCTU and in 2015 temporarily served as chief technology officer at GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology Inc. In 2016, he founded Taiwan Innovative Space Inc, but returned to NCTU in 2018.
“Wu [Jong-shinn] will lead his country’s space R&D efforts as the nation makes a concerted effort to fully participate in the world’s space economy,” the University of Michigan said in a news release on July 21.
“Wu [Jong-shinn]’s ambitious plans for NSPO include designing and manufacturing its own satellites and rockets... He also aims to double NSPO’s workforce to 600 employees by 2028, while growing its annual US$100 million budget,” it said.
Currently, the NSPO has about 220 employees and an annual budget of around NT$2.3 billion.
He has appointed three deputy directors-general — Yu, Vicky Chu (朱崇惠) and Kuo Tien-chuan (郭添全), Wu Jong-shinn told the Taipei Times.
Chu is a former project leader of the Formosat-7/COSMIC-2 satellite constellation — a Taiwan-US collaboration, while Kuo is a former director of the NSPO’s mechanical engineering division.
Wu Jong-shinn is the first rocket scientist to take the NSPO’s helm, Wu Kuang-chong said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by