The national space agency yesterday officially changed its name to the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), after it was earlier this week upgraded and placed under the purview of the Cabinet-level National Science and Technology Council.
The Hsinchu City-based entity, previously called the National Space Organization, was renamed to include “Taiwan,” as this would improve readability and international recognition, the council said.
“The reorganization is a very important milestone for the country’s space development” as domestic technology would now receive more international recognition, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said at the rebranding ceremony.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
She said after the reorganization, TASA would be tasked with additional assignments, such as working with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to upgrade the nation’s space industry and working with the Ministry of Education to train space industry talent.
To seize international business opportunities, “we have been preparing to install ourselves in space. Taiwan’s 30 years of development of space technology and its accumulated results in the research and development of satellites have given it an excellent track record,” Tsai said.
TASA Director-General Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信) told reporters that the reorganization would give the agency access to additional resources.
Taiwan’s advantage in space development is that it has the necessary fundamentals and has reached the stage at which is develops its own components, Wu said.
TASA, which currently employs about 200 people, is planning to recruit about 300 new staff over the next three years, Wu added.
“The restructuring also allows for a raise in salaries, which will be more attractive compared with the past,” he said.
The restructuring was implemented on Jan. 1 in accordance with the Act for the Establishment of the Taiwan Space Agency (國家太空中心設置條例), which was promulgated on May 4 last year.
The upgraded status aims to enhance national space technology research and development capabilities, implement national space strategies and plans, and promote the development of space activities and the space industry, the act says.
Originally established in 1991 as the National Space Program Office of the National Space Technology Long-Term Development Program, the entity became part of the National Applied Research Laboratories in 2003 and renamed the National Space Organization in 2005.
Since 1999, the agency has seen the launch of the Formosat-1, Formosat-2, Formosat-3, Formosat-5 and Formosat-7 satellites.
The Formosat-5 and Formosat-7 constellations are still in service, while Formosat-8, a constellation of six high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites, is to be launched next year and in 2025.
The TRITON (Wind-Hunter Satellite) is to be launched this year as part of an effort to research air-sea interaction and predict the intensity of typhoons, Wu said.
“Through a GPS receiver we can measure the height of the waves in the sea and calculate the speed of the wind, which is very important for our daily weather predictions,” Wu said.
‘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
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
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
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
RSS