The National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) yesterday launched a domestically engineered sounding rocket from a rocket research launch site in Pingtung County’s Syuhai Village (旭海), the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said.
Named the “Asfaloth Launch-2,” the project involved an Asfaloth sounding rocket developed by NYCU’s Aerospace Systems and Aerodynamics Research (ASARe) Lab, TASA said in a news release.
A sounding rocket is a suborbital rocket that carries scientific instruments to study the upper atmosphere and space for a short flight.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Space Agency
TASA said it oversaw the project, adding that the project was spearheaded by NYCU’s ASARe, Advanced Rocket Research Center, Micro-electro-mechanical Systems Servo Control Laboratory (MSCL), and the Aerospace Communication and Electromagnetic Sensing Laboratory.
ASARe was responsible for the integration of the rocket system and the design of the launch system, while the center provided the primary engine for the first stage, the Serpent Eagle Hybrid Rocket Engine, and MSCL supplied the avionics system.
The rocket took off from the launch site at 6:32am using a mobile TASA launch platform.
Assistant professor Tan Zu Pua-yen (陳竺博淵), who leads the university’s ASARe team, said that the 6.2-meter-long rocket hit its maximum altitude in 26 seconds at a height of 2.8km.
The purpose of the launch was to verify the integrity of the Asfaloth rocket, the ASARe team said, adding that it was also to simulate the accuracy of a launch, test out the onboard electronics of the rocket, the effectiveness of its landing mechanism and the redundancy of its data transmission capacity.
It was the second Asfaloth rocket the university launched, following the first launch on July 21 last year. The first Asfaloth launch also took place at the same site, TASA said, adding that yesterday’s blastoff marked the 10th rocket launch from the location since its opening in 2022.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS