A weather satellite, named the Triton, is pictured at the Taiwan Space Agency in this undated photo. Photo taken from Taiwan Space Agency's Facebook page
Taipei, July 10 (CNA) A domestically engineered weather satellite will leave Taiwan on Friday for French Guiana, where it is scheduled to be launched into space in September, after all tests found it ready to go, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said Monday.
The TASA said the Triton (a.k.a. Wind-Hunter Satellite) will take off into orbit on an Arianespace Vega C rideshare mission.
To get the satellite ready as a payload, a pre-shipment review was initiated in mid-June, with 15 inspectors completing final checkups, the agency said.
Triton project manager Lin Chen-tsung (林辰宗) said the two-day review included assembly testing, instrument verification, and environment adaptability, and tests were also run to ensure that ground computers controlling the satellite will operate smoothly.
Lin said the review concluded that all of the specifications were up to standard, with the TASA adding that the satellite was clear to be transported following inspections and follow-up questions from the review board.
TASA Director-General Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信) said the Triton project was initiated in 2014 and that it has finally reached the launch phrase after eight years of hard work.
Wu said Triton was Taiwan's first domestically engineered weather satellite and was built with many domestic components, including Taiwan's own global navigation satellite system-reflectometry (GNSS-R).
The GNSS-R is a data processing module developed by the TASA and the Central Weather Bureau along with other technology and meteorology experts to collect sea surface wind data that will be combined with ground radar wind field data to more accurately predict typhoon paths and heavy rainfall.
Triton will be launched into a circular low earth orbit at an altitude of about 550-650 kilometers, the TASA said.
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