The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) on Wednesday announced that the Taiwan-Japan codeveloped small satellite Onglaisat had hit a key milestone by completing 50 imaging operations and successfully testing three key technologies.
After nearly three months of in-orbit operation, Onglaisat achieved its objectives after downloading and processing 50 images of the Earth, TASA said.
Onglaisat had also successfully tested the Korsch off-axis optical system, the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) time delay and integration (TDI) image sensor, and the JPEG 2000 onboard compression capability, TASA added.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Space Agency
Onglaisat project leader Chan Chen-yu (詹鎮宇) said that small satellites, or cubesats, are a quicker and more affordable “pathfinder” to test emerging space technologies.
The project was launched to test the feasibility of systems for use in future ultra-high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites, he added.
Regarding the off-axis optical system aboard Onglaisat, Chan said that while it presents greater design, manufacturing and assembly challenges, it has a more compact structure and improved optical performance.
With successful testing, the technology could be used on larger satellites, which would help improve image resolution, he added
The CMOS TDI image sensor, which enhances sensitivity and image quality, is the first TDI image sensor developed in Taiwan to be successfully tested in a space mission, potentially helping the country develop its own satellites, Chang said.
As for the JPEG 2000 onboard compression capability, it enables more efficient use of satellite data storage and downlink bandwidth, preventing bottlenecks in data transmission, he added.
The Onglaisat project is a collaboration project between TASA and the Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Tokyo’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, along with several Japan-based start-up companies.
Launched into space from the US on Nov. 5 last year, Onglaisat was deployed into a 410km low Earth orbit from the International Space Station on Dec. 9 last year, TASA said.
Its mission is expected to last until early March, TASA added.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS