Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) Rapidtek Technologies Inc., an antenna design and radio frequency testing manufacturer in Taiwan, announced Tuesday the opening of a space industry R&D center and its intention to move into the domestic CubeSat market.
INTERVIEW: NSPO eyes industry partnership
ORBIT ISSUES: Plans for a communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit were complex, but the Beyond 5G would be easier, the NSPO’s Yu Shiann-jeng said
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
With the National Space Organization (NSPO) which is to mark its 30th anniversary in October to be reorganized into a higher agency, questions have been raised as to how it would chart a new course in space development.
This year is crucial for the agency. Last month, it pushed the nation’s first space development bill through a legislative review. Once the regulations are in place, the organization is to be upgraded into an agency directly supervised by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Launch site issues force rocket firm overseas: sources
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
The lack of an approved launch site in the nation has forced Taiwan Innovative Space Inc to turn to Australia to launch a research rocket, sources familiar with the matter have said.
Some Taiwan Innovative Space employees departed for Australia in February to complete quarantine and preparatory procedures prior to trial launches this month, a person said on condition of anonymity.
Australian space company Southern Launch would help Taiwan Innovative Space launch its sounding rocket at a site near Adelaide, South Australia, another person with knowledge of the matter said.
SpaceX launch of two Taiwanese cubesats delayed
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter, in Hsinchu City
Two cubesats developed by Taiwanese researchers were scheduled to be launched by Space Exploration Technologies Corp’s (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida between 22:24pm and 23:24pm last night.
However, SpaceX at 10:37pm tweeted that due to unfavorable weather, it was delaying the launch until tonight.
The Transporter-1 mission is the first to be part of the company’s SmallSat Rideshare Program, according to the SpaceX Web site.
“On board this launch are 133 commercial and government spacecraft (including cubesats, microsats, and orbital transfer vehicles) and 10 Starlink satellites the most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission,” the Web site said.