A team of scientists from National Central University yesterday unveiled what they said was the world’s most compact and precise advanced ionospheric probe (AIP), which is to be installed on FORMOSAT-5 — the nation’s first independently developed optical remote-sensing satellite — and deployed for weather and earthquake forecasting.
The device, nicknamed the “Cosmic Cube” by the researchers for its ability to measure “enormous cosmic powers,” is just 10cm3 in size and weighs 4kg — 0.6kg lighter than the ion velocity meter developed in the US and 10kg lighter than its predecessor, project leader Chao Chi-kuang (趙吉光) said.
The reduced weight in the satellite’s payload lowers the cost for the space mission by about NT$30 million (US$957,700), equivalent to the subsidy provided by the National Applied Research Laboratories to build the device, Chao said.
The probe can take 8,192 samples of positive cations — ions with positive electrical charges — per second when operating at full capacity, compared with 160 samples per second for the European Space Agency’s DEMETER spacecraft, Chao said.
One of the instrument’s most prominent features is its unibody sieve, which is made of pure gold to achieve optimal potential energy structure while sifting out ions suitable for measurements, Chao said. This increases the accuracy of measurements while greatly reducing the pollution produced by electrodes compared with sieves made of stainless steel.
As ions travel at 800km per second in the ionosphere, the AIP’s high sampling rate shortens the intervals between samples, thereby enabling more accurate measurements of the ion density, velocity and temperature, while circumventing potential damage space weather could have on satellites and communication systems used on fishing boats and military vessels.
It can also be deployed for forecasting earthquakes, which are known to be preceded by a phenomenon involving fluctuations in ion concentration levels 24 hours to 10 days before they hit an area.
Citing samples conducted in the waters off Yilan County on March 31, 2002 — two days before a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Taiwan — National Space Organization chief scientist Liu Jann-yeng (劉正彥) said that ion density in the ionosphere above Yilan dropped to abnormal levels, which in turn caused plasma density in the ionosphere to fall as well.
“The time at which anomalies in ion density preceding earthquakes are detected varies from one place to another. For example, those detected from Taiwan range from one to five days and are characterized by sudden drops. Detections from China range from one to six days, while detections from Japan take the form of a positive anomaly and usually take place one to three days before an earthquake,” Liu said.
Chao said he started research on the probe about 20 years ago, when he was still a junior in college.
To pass down the legacy of Taiwan’s aeronautics education, he said the university has teamed up with the Taoyuan Government and National Applied Research Laboratories to offer courses on general aeronautics to all 11 municipal high schools in the city.
Outstanding students will be given an opportunity to visit satellite launch sites in the US, with all fees covered by the municipal government, he said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
RSS