By Shelley Shan \/
\nStaff reporter<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Taiwan aims to launch its first locally built rocket into orbit by 2034, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said yesterday, adding that it is exploring opportunities to build data centers in space.<\/p>\n
The agency made the remarks during a meeting of the legislature\u2019s Education and Culture Committee, at which lawmakers focused on the government\u2019s strategy for aerospace technology following the launch of the first satellite of Formosat-8, the nation\u2019s home-built optical remote-sensing satellite, at the end of last month.<\/p>\n
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Chen Hsiu-pao (\u9673\u79c0\u5bf6) and Jean Kuo (\u90ed\u6631\u6674), and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Ju-chun (\u845b\u5982\u921e) asked TASA and National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) officials about the nation\u2019s progress in building rockets and whether the government has plans to build data centers in space. <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/P02-251219-604.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Space Agency via CNA<\/p>\n
They also expressed concerns about whether the government could offer sufficient incentives to attract more talent to the field, which encompasses many emerging areas of interest.<\/p>\n
Taiwan is exploring the opportunities of building data centers in space, TASA Director-General Wu Jung-shinn (\u5433\u5b97\u4fe1) said.<\/p>\n
One of the three privately built satellites in the Formosat-8 payload carried a graphical processing unit, an essential component of a data center, Wu said, adding that the company that built the satellite is monitoring the hardware\u2019s performance in a vacuum with high radiation exposure and severe temperature fluctuations.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitial results of the experiment are expected soon, which would be key in our assessment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s transition into the commercial space model following the successful launch of its fourth homegrown rocket last month was also brought up as an example during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Wu said that TASA has a 10-year satellite payload development program which began in 2023, with the goal of launching Taiwan-made rockets by 2034. <\/p>\n
The agency is working with 50 rocket supply chain contractors, mostly in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, Wu said.<\/p>\n
The most challenging part of the program is to develop liquid-propellant engines, Wu said.<\/p>\n
NSTC Deputy Chairman Lin Faa-cheng (\u6797\u6cd5\u6b63) said it took South Korea 20 years and billions of US dollars to reach where it is. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to reach the goal with a shortened timeline and limited funds leveraging Taiwan\u2019s strong capabilities in information and communication technology and precision machinery,\u201d Lin said.<\/p>\n
Kuo said that the budget allocated to the Phase III of the nation\u2019s space project has reached NT$70 billion (US$2.2 billion), adding that the successful launch of the first satellite of Formosat-8 has proven the feasibility of a modular, lightweight platform.<\/p>\n
TASA should assist the private sector in promoting the use of the platform in the international <\/p>\n
community, she said.<\/p>\n
Wu said that the agency is promoting the use of its self-developed standardized satellite bus system, which could be used to help the Ministry of Environment launch four satellites to observe changes in greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n
The agency is also engaging in the Big 5G project to bolster the resilience of low-Earth orbit communications, Wu said, adding that the goal is to establish a comprehensive original design manufacturing ecosystem of low-earth orbit satellite payloads. <\/p>\n
Chen and Kuo said that talent needed to develop space technology could also be applied in the semiconductor industry. <\/p>\n
Aside from offering more desirable incentives, the government should track the movement of graduates of university aerospace programs, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last thing we want is that we end up training skilled personnel for other countries,\u201d Kuo said.<\/p>\n
Ko asked the council to study Singapore, which ranked first in this year\u2019s Global Talent Competitiveness Index, and submit a report to the committee in three months on how the government can attract, train and retain talent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EYES TO THE HEAVENS: Taiwan\u2019s space agency aims to launch a locally built rocket into orbit within a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[18,19,17,133,451,11689,11688],"class_list":{"0":"post-240838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space","13":"tag-the-taipei-times","14":"tag-11688"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115745792221560545","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}