Taiwan, NASA collaborate to develop lunar lander
The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taoyuan. (CNa file photo)
Taipei, July 18 (CNA) Several Taiwanese research institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to jointly develop an unmanned lunar lander.
The lunar landing module is scheduled to be delivered to the United States for testing in October 2018 and sent to the moon in 2020, according to the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST).
Believing that there is a lot of water on the moon, NASA scientists who want to learn how to exploit it are developing a mission concept to assess and learn how to make use of water ice on the moon and other lunar resources, according to the institute.
The project aims to have a rover land on the moon, it said, adding that the institute is responsible for developing the lander's sensing system, while NASA is tasked with developing the propulsion system.
Noting that the mission is the first of its kind in which Taiwan has taken part, the institute said the biggest challenge for its research team is how to keep the equipment functioning in a space environment.
Taiwan was selected by NASA as a partner in the lunar lander development program mainly because of NCSIST's performance in several international space projects, including Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), an international collaboration to detect and distinguish high-energy charged particles in the universe, that has earned widespread recognition, according to the institute.
The MOU was signed earlier this month by NASA and Taiwan's National Space Organization, NCSIST and Academia Sinica.
(By Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao)
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http://focustaiwan.tw/news/ast/201607180010.aspx
