A CubeSat designed and made by the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) was yesterday launched into space from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, TASA said in a statement today.
The PARUS-T2, carried by a Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) Transporter-14 rocket, was launched at 2:25pm California time and positioned in low-earth orbit at an altitude of 621km about 136 minutes after that, TASA said.
It connected with an overseas earth station two hours after positioning in orbit and was expected to connect with Taiwan's earth station at 10pm today, TASA said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Space Agency via CNA
A cube satellite, or CubeSat, is a miniaturized satellite made up of multiple cubic modules of about 10cm³.
The PARUS-T2, a CubeSat measuring 30cm by 10cm by 10cm, is based on the PARUS-T1, which was sent into orbit on Jan. 15, but improvements were made to its satellite computer, power control system, satellite battery and global navigation satellite system receiver.
It has a new deployment mechanism to unfold its solar panel and is equipped with an altitude determination and control system developed by Taiwanese company Tensor Tech, TASA said.
It also carries a communication payload and an automatic packet reporting system payload, both made in Taiwan, the agency said.
The primary 12-month mission is to verify the satellite's performance, with the goal of improving the reliability of CubeSats developed by TASA, it said.
Once their reliability is confirmed, TASA hopes to develop a stable supply of CubeSats for commercial and academic use, ultimately boosting Taiwan's global competitiveness in the space industry, the agency said.
The PARUS project was named after Taiwan's indigenous Sittiparus castaneoventris, or chestnut-bellied tit, with the hope that domestically made satellites would fly high into the sky, TASA said.
The next PARUS CubeSat, PARUS-6U1, is expected to be launched in October carried by a SpaceX Transporter-15 rocket, it added.
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