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
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and