To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the launch of FORMOSAT-2, the National Space Organization (NSPO) will host a series of educational events on the operations and functions of the satellite, the NSPO said yesterday.
FORMOSAT-2, the first remote sensing satellite developed by the NSPO, was launched into orbit 891km above sea level on May 21, 2004. It is the first satellite to be solely controlled by the government.
To mark its fifth year, the NSPO will host an array of events to exhibit the satellite’s successes such as hosting workshops for target groups to learn about FORMOSAT-2, NSPO director-general Miau Jiun-jih (苗君易) said.
The first event from tomorrow to May 15 will be a satellite-photo identification contest, he said.
BICEP
“For example, did you know that from a birds-eye view, the Hualien plain looks like an extended bicep? Every week on the NSPO Web site, we will post two satellite pictures of a place on the island. Those who identify the place correctly can enter a raffle prize draw,” he said.
One of the satellite’s missions is to captures images of the island as well as other locations on the Earth, Miau said, adding that the data could be used in fields such as natural resource research, climate observation, disaster prevention and environmental protection.
“The biggest difference between FORMOSAT-2 and other satellites is that it has the function of recording images of the same terrestrial or oceanic landscape everyday, so it can be used to monitor potential disasters or record landscape evolution,” he said.
EXCLUSIVE PROCESSING
With its exclusive Image Processing System developed by the NSPO, images taken by the satellite can be processed according to the end-user’s needs, he said, adding that the Central Weather Bureau used the data regularly.
Besides the image-capturing function, the satellite can also provide data for global positioning systems, Miau said.
In March last year, the FORMOSAT-2 conducted a high-resolution photo surveillance of the collapsing Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica on the request of NASA which issued calls for countries to focus any available high-resolution satellites on the shelf.
The photos that were taken by FORMOSAT-2 were the most detailed observation ever of an ice shelf disintegration. Commenting on the mission, National Cheng Kung University Department of Earth Sciences associate professor Liu Cheng-chie (劉正千) said it was the first time that such a high-resolution satellite had been deployed to monitor the Antarctic.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS