Taiwan launches first homegrown satellite

Taiwan has launched Formosat-5, the first homegrown observation satellite, from an air base in the US, the island nation’s National Space Organisation (NSO) announced on Friday.

The octagonal satellite – 2 metres high and 1.2 metres in diameter – cost some 3 billion Taiwanese dollars ($100 million) and made contact with a station in Norway at 4.13 a.m., Efe news quoted NSO as saying.

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The satellite is equipped with Complementary Metal-oxide-semiconductor sensors to observe the Earth.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called the launch a great leap that demonstrates Taiwan’s technological progress.