Taiwan Space Agency (short as TASA), formerly the National Space Organization (NSPO) from 1991 to 2023, is the national civilian space agency of the Taiwan, under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council. TASA is involved in the development of space technologies and related research.

Organization

TASA headquarters and the main ground control station are in Hsinchu. In April 2022, the Legislative Yuan passed a bill that upgraded the NSPO to a directly affiliated agency of the National Science and Technology Council, and renamed Taiwan Space Agency. The TASA is organized as follows: TASA also has numerous laboratories, such as:

History

1991

1994

1996

1997

1998

1999

2018

2019

2020

2021

2023

The organization is placed under the direct oversight of the National Science and Technology Council and renamed the Taiwan Space Agency. The Chinese name was not changed.

Taiwanese rocket launch program

TASA developed sounding rocket based on the Sky Bow II surface-to-air missile with added booster. There have been 10 launches as of 2024, with 9 successful flights.

Taiwanese designed and built satellites

Formosat (formerly ROCSAT)

The FORMOSAT (福爾摩沙衛星) name derived from Formosa and satellite (formerly ROCSAT (中華衛星), an abbreviation of Republic of China and satellite.

Others

Planned missions

Developments and long term plans

The first phase of Taiwan's space program involves the development of the human and technological resources required to build and maintain three satellite programs, which is expected to be completed with the launch of Formosat-3/COSMIC by the end of 2005. Currently, the spacecraft and instrumentation are designed and assembled in Taiwan by local and foreign corporations and shipped to the U.S. for launch by commercial space launch firms. TASA, the military, and Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology have also been working on the development of a sounding rocket for upper atmospheric studies. The second phase is scheduled to take place between 2006 and 2018. It will involve an emphasis on developing technological integration and miniaturization capabilities required for the development of constellations of microsatellites, as well as encouraging growth in the local aerospace industry. Since 2009, TASA has been working with university research teams in developing innovative technology to improve the overall efficiency of hybrid rockets. Nitrous oxide/HTPB propellant systems were employed with efficiency boosting designs, which resulted in great improvements in hybrid rocket performance using two patented designs. So far, several hybrid rockets have been successfully launched to 1020 km altitudes, including a demonstration of in-flight stops/restarts. By the end of 2014, they will attempt conducting suborbital experiments to 100200 km altitude. There have been proposals to elevate NSPO's status to that of a national research institute, however such plans were under debate Legislative Yuan as of late 2007. In 2019 the Ministry of Science and Technology announced an expected cost of NT$25.1 billion (US$814 million) for the third phase of the National Space Program. The third phase will see at least one satellite launched per year between 2019 and 2028. In August 2019 Thailand's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency announced that they would consult with TASA on developing their own indigenous satellites. In 2021 the Taiwanese legislature passed the Space Development Promotion Act which is meant to incentivize increased private sector participation in space industries.