Taiwan’s first locally built weather satellite, the Triton, is expected to be launched in August, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) has said.
The satellite would be launched on an Arianespace rocket from French Guiana, said an agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Triton is the latest in a series of locally developed satellites, including Formosat 5 and 7.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The development of the Triton shows that the agency’s capabilities in aerospace development, design and manufacturing have greatly improved, the source said, adding that it proves that Taiwan can produce weather satellites.
Eighty-two percent of the 250kg satellite’s components were made in Taiwan, it said.
It includes the global navigation satellite system reflectometry device developed by TASA. The device can gather reflected signals in low Earth orbit from US-owned GPS satellites and aid in ocean-atmospheric interchange research as well as estimate the strength of typhoons.
Working with French company Arianespace, TASA is expected to complete the satellite’s pre-shipment review by the middle of next month, the source said.
It would then await confirmation of the launch schedule, upon which the satellite would be delivered to the launch site in French Guiana for further testing, fueling and docking with the rocket, the source said.
The launch was initially scheduled for the first quarter of this year, but the failed launch of an Arianespace Vega-C rocket on Dec. 20 last year has led to delays, the source said.
Arianespace has confirmed that the launch would proceed in August and switched the carrying rocket from Vega-C to the original Vega.
According to specifications on the Arianespace Web site, the Vega, introduced in 2012, has a target payload lift capacity of 1,500kg for missions to a 700km circular orbit.
Triton would be launched by Arianespace’s Small Spacecraft Mission Service. The satellite is expected to settle in a circular orbit at about 550km to 650km from the Earth’s surface, with a 98-degree incline, allowing it to fly over any point on the planet.
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