Formosat-8 Remote Sensing Satellite Program

Chia-Ray Chen^1*

¹Formosat-8 program office, National Space Organization (NSPO), Hsin-Chu city, Taiwan

* Presenter:Chia-Ray Chen, email:chiaray@narlabs.org.tw

The 3rd phase of the “National Space Technology Long-Term Development Program” in Taiwan (3rd phase space program) was officially approved by the Executive Yuan in January 2019. Formosat-8 is the first satellite program to be initiated in the 3rd phase space program ranging from 2019 to 2028. We plan to have a constellation of six satellites to have global coverage and multiple revisits over Taiwan. Formosat-8 program is a follow-on mission of Formosat-5 program. Formosat-8 is the first sub-meter resolution optical remote sensing satellite in Taiwan. In addition to the performance improvement, we also would like to promote local space industry, so the satellite development approach is different from the traditional one in Taiwan. There are lots of private companies and research institutes joining this program to develop seventeen key components in the first Formosat-8 satellite. How to properly qualify so many satellite components is important for the mission success of Formosat-8 program. All environmental tests will be used to make sure that newly developed components can meet requirements. The development strategy and current status will be presented here.

Keywords: Formosat-8, remote sensing, satellite