Engineering:Formosat-8

From HandWiki

Formosat-8 is a constellation of Taiwanese earth observation satellites under development by Taiwan Space Agency.

History

The program builds off of Formosat-5, a remote imaging satellite which was launched in 2017.[1] In 2024 it was announced that the domestic parts would make up 80% of the satellites.[2][3] The Formosat-8 program was praised by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during a May 2025 visit to the program office.[4]

The first launch was innitially planned for October, 2025 via SpaceX.[1][5][6] In early October the first satellite was flown to the United States with a new expected launch date in November.[7] The launch was delayed by the 2025 United States federal government shutdown[8] to 28 November 2025.[9]

Payloads

Six of eight satellites are planned to fly high resolution optical payloads with less than 1m resolution and two satellites are planned to fly at with 1m resolution payloads.[10]

Team

As of 2025 Cynthia Liu was the project manager.[10]

Satellites

Launches begun in 2025[9] and are expected to end in 2031.[11] FORMOSAT-8C and 8D will be launched by Avio's Vega C rockets from the Guiana Space Centre.[12]

Formosat-8A

The first satellite in the constellation is Formosat-8A (FS-8A).[13][11] It was launched on 28 November 2025 on the Falcon 9 mission Transporter-15 from Vandenberg Space Force Base.[9] The satellite is named after Chi Po-lin in honor of the Taiwanese photographer and filmmaker who died in a tragic helicopter accident in 2017.[14]

Formosat-8B

FS-8B is expected to be launched in December 2026.[12]

See also

  • COSMIC-2
  • Formosat-2
  • PARUS (Taiwanese satellite family)
  • ONGLAISAT

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nakhiengchanh, Michael. "Taiwan’s FORMOSAT-8 satellite to launch in 2025". Taiwan News. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5686413. 
  2. ↑ Writer, Staff. "Formosat-8 could be launched next year, agency says". Taiwan News. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2024/04/13/2003816366. 
  3. ↑ "First Formosat-8 satellite could be launched late 2025: TASA". Focus Taiwan. https://focustaiwan.tw/sci-tech/202404110012. 
  4. ↑ Chen, Kelvin. "Lai lauds Taiwan's FORMOSAT-8 satellite project". Taiwan News. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/6111697. 
  5. ↑ Chuang, Bryan; Wu, Vyra. "Taiwan to launch critical surveillance satellite in October". DigiTimes. https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20250516PD207/taiwan-satellite-launch-security-spacex.html. 
  6. ↑ Chang, Alyx; Kuan-hsien, Wu. "1st FORMOSAT-8 satellite to be launched in October". Focus Taiwan. https://focustaiwan.tw/sci-tech/202507240025. 
  7. ↑ Min-ya, Chao; Lai, Sunny. "Taiwan sends 1st FORMOSAT-8 satellite to U.S. for November liftoff". Focus Taiwan. https://focustaiwan.tw/sci-tech/202510070018. 
  8. ↑ Strong, Matthew. "Taiwan satellite launch postponed due to US government shutdown". Taiwan News. https://taiwannews.com.tw/news/6239622. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Day, Eleanor (2025-11-26). "SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launches 140 payloads on Transporter-15" (in en-US). https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/11/transporter-15/. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Po-hsiung, Wu; Chia-yi, Chen. "Formosat-8 to contain Taiwan-made sensors". Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/01/07/2003829782. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Nakhiengchanh, Michael. "Taiwan’s 1st Formosat-8 clears testing". Taiwan News. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/6163491. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Parsonson, Andrew (2025-12-25). "Avio to Launch Four Earth Observation Satellites for Taiwan" (in en-US). https://europeanspaceflight.com/avio-to-launch-four-earth-observation-satellites-for-taiwan/. 
  13. ↑ Hiciano, Lery. "FS-8A set to ship to US next month: TASA". Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/07/25/2003840894. 
  14. ↑ "Formosat-8 launches from California space base". Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2025/11/30/2003848063. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Engineering:Formosat-8&oldid=4273070"