First Taiwan-made satellite launched in California
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On 25 August, Taiwan’s first domestically developed remote sensing satellite, FORMOSAT- 5, launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The mission’s purpose is to make Taiwan more self-reliant in space and global imaging technology. It follows more than six years of work by Taiwan’s National Space Organisation (NSPO), including more than fifty development teams from across Taiwan. It is also the first time the NSPO has designed, developed, and engineered a space programme.
Launched by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, the satellite is designed to operate for five years and will orbit the Earth once every 100 minutes. It will pass over Taiwan every two days for data retrieval.
The satellite will capture and relay high-resolution global imagery back to Earth. On board, it also has an Advanced Ionospheric Probe (AIP), a device for conducting studies in ionospheric plasma physics, developed by Taiwan’s National Central University.
