Taiwan and the US are discussing the potential of spaceport cooperation, which could shorten travel time between Taipei and Houston to two-and-a-half hours, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday.
The potential port is the latest in space cooperation between Taiwan and the US, the AIT said on Facebook, adding that the matter is “awaiting further evaluation.”
Ellington Airport in Houston already has a spaceport license, it said.
Photo courtesy of Houston Airport System
If suborbital flights are used, it would only take two-and-a-half hours to travel between Taipei and Houston, the AIT said.
The cooperation could initially focus on uncrewed cargo missions before maturing technology enables crewed flights, it added.
“This concept highlights Taiwan's potential for space innovation and also marks the deep scientific and technological partnership between the United States and Taiwan,” the AIT said.
The National Science and Technology Council, which oversees the Taiwan Space Agency, said today that Taiwan welcomed the expansion of bilateral space cooperation, but that specific plans for space transportation still required further evaluation and discussion.
Taiwan earlier this year announced Jiupeng Village (九棚) in Pingtung County's Manjhou Township (滿州) as the nation’s space launchsite.
An anonymous source last week said the site has the potential to be expanded into a spaceport.
Suborbital flight from a spaceport involves an aircraft taking off from a runway carrying a spacecraft, which would detach to fly to an altitude that is considered space, a Houston City Government official said.
The spacecraft would then adjust toward its destination before re-entering the atmosphere in freefall and flying to land at the destination airport, they said.
Additional reporting by Tsai Yun-jung and CNA
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS