Taiwan has Indigenously Built its First Optical Remote Sensing Instrument for FORMOSAT-5 Satellite

by GIS Resources , 2015-05-14

Image: Focus Taiwan

In recent news from Focus Taiwan, the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) of Taiwan, announced that country has indigenously built the first optical remote sensing instrument (RSI) in Taiwan that will be part of the payload for the FORMOSAT-5 satellite, marking a milestone in the nation’s space technology development.

The satellite is expected to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in the first quarter of 2016 to replace FORMOSAT-2, which has been operating for over 10 years.

Chang Guey-shin, director of the National Space Organization (NSPO) of NARLabs, said the organization has taken advantage of Taiwan’s electronics and semiconductor industries to develop a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.

The NSPO said that CMOS has the edge in low cost, electricity conservation and speedy transmission of signals.

H.P. Chang, the program manager, said the team has had to overcome several challenges, including the innovative design and manufacturing of CMOS Image Sensor (CIS), carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) strut manufacturing, on-board image compression, and optical structure assembly and alignment over its five years of research.

Know-how accumulated from the development of the payload has given NSPO greater confidence toward future challenges of Taiwan’s space programs, he said.