The nation’s first domestically designed satellite, Formosat-5, is to be launched on Aug. 25 in the US to resume the observation missions of the decommissioned Formosat-2, the Cabinet said yesterday.
The satellite would collect data for natural disaster evaluation, national security, environmental monitoring, international rescue operations and scientific research, National Space Organization (NSPO) Director Chang Guey-shin (張桂祥) said.
Formosat-2 was decommissioned in August last year after being used in 343 disaster response missions such as providing authorities with immediate images of damaged areas during the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, Chang said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Science and Technology
The 450kg Formosat-5 is the first project in which the NSPO was fully responsible for all engineering, including payload, imaging sensors and ground control systems.
Formosat-5 is to carry the first locally made optical remote sensing instrument equipped with the world’s first space-grade metal oxide semiconductor image sensor, which the organization developed in cooperation with the nation’s electronics and semiconductor industries.
The satellite cost about NT$5.65 billion (US$186 million) to make and is to embark on a five-year observation mission around the globe.
The satellite’s launch was initially scheduled for October last year. A failed rocket test in September last year at SpaceX, the US company commissioned to launch Formosat-5, delayed the launches for all its customers, among which was the NSPO.
SpaceX is contractually required to pay 1.25 percent of the contract amount — about NT$700 million — for every month’s delay, Chang said, adding that the company is expected to pay 10 percent in compensation.
The Formosat-7 program, a follow-up Earth observation mission in which Taiwan is cooperating with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is to launch a constellation of 12 mission-specific satellites plus one NSPO-built satellite to perform radio occultation studies of the upper atmosphere, the NSPO said.
The first constellation of the Formosat-7 program, consisting of six satellites, is expected to be launched next year, the office said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS