Formosat-5 (Formosa Satellite 5; Chinese: 福爾摩沙衛星五號) is the first Earth observation satellite manufactured and operated solely by the National Space Organization, the national civilian space agency of Taiwan. The satellite was launched from a Falcon 9 rocket on 24 August 2017, and placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 720 km. Formosat-5 can capture color and more detailed monochrome images, along with measuring the ionosphere plasma's properties.
Spacecraft design
Formosat-5 primary goal is to demonstrate Taiwan's satellite manufacturing capabilities and produce data for various academic research. The satellite is 2.8 m tall, 1.6 m wide octagonal prism body, and weighs about 450 kg. Formosat-5 contains the Optical Telemetry Payload (Chinese: 光學遙測酬載) capturing color and monochrome images, and the Advanced Ionospheric Sounder (Chinese: 先進電離層探測儀) measuring the ionosphere.[4]
The Optical Telemetry Payload is the primary instrument aboard the spacecraft, composed of a telescope and an electrical unit. The telescope uses a CMOS chip designed to see four light wavelengths: blue, green, red, and near infrared. The chip also has a dedicated monochrome sensor with 12-bit color depth. The Optical Telemetry Payload has a 10GB storage device, which can store panoramas that take 8 minutes to capture.[4] Formosat-5 can capture images with a 2-meter resolution in black and white and 4 meters in color.[5]
Formosat-5 also contains a scientific payload, called Advanced Ionospheric Probe, that studies plasma physics and properties in the ionosphere.[6] This instrument can measure plasma composition, density, temperature, and flow rate. The Advanced Ionospheric Probe is expected to be sensitive enough to capture anomalies of the ionosphere before earthquakes.[4]
Other components of Formosat-5 include a power control and distribution unit, heaters, batteries, and foldable solar panels. The power control and distribution unit can output a voltage of 5.2V with a maximum wattage of 50W. Formosat-5's MIPS computer can process 20 million instructions per second, with high-speed data channels.[4]
Operation
Artist's concept of Formosat-5 in orbit
Formosat-5 is the National Space Organization's first indigenously developed observation satellite, directed by Chang Ho-pen (張和本).[7][8][9][5]
In September 2017, Formosat-5 transmitted its first images, which were blurry. A subsequent rescue mission fixed the satellite; however, it is limited to capturing images during good weather.[5]
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Cubesats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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