Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>SpaceX launched an Earth-observation satellite for Taiwan's National Space Organization into orbit from California on Tuesday. The Falcon 9 rocket made a successful landing at sea. (Aug. 24) AP</s>New Delhi: California-based space company, SpaceX, today launched the FORMOSAT-5 satellite - the first satellite designed and built entirely in Taiwan.

With an aim to boost disaster forecasts and mapping, environmental observation and space research, FORMOSAT-5 weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) and blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:51 am (1851 GMT).

"Falcon 9 has lifted off," SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons said as the rocket soared into the sky over the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, leaving billowing clouds of smoke in its wake.

The satellite is designed to last for five years, and will orbit the Earth once every 100 minutes.

Its predecessor, FORMOSAT-2, was decommissioned last year after 12 years, a lifespan in which it mapped a series of major disasters in parts of Asia and Africa.

It, too, had been designed to operate for just five years.</s>Flying with an exceptionally lightweight payload, a Falcon 9 rocket delivered a multipurpose research satellite into a nearly 450-mile-high orbit Thursday for Taiwan following a smooth countdown and liftoff from California’s Central Coast.

Weighing in at about a half-ton, or 475 kilograms, the Formosat 5 satellite doubles as an orbiting observatory to look down on Earth and as a pathfinder for Taiwan’s future space ambitions.

Formosat 5 climbed into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off at 11:51 a.m. PDT (2:51 p.m. EDT; 1851 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Originally slated to fly on SpaceX’s discontinued Falcon 1 rocket, Formosat 5 is the first major space mission fully designed, manufactured and tested in Taiwan. It follows Formosat 2, a European-built satellite owned by Taiwan’s National Space Organization, or NSPO, launched in 2004 from Vandenberg on a Taurus rocket.

Formosat 2 was retired last year, well after Formosat 5 was originally scheduled for launch. But the project ran into delays in Taiwan, and Formosat 5’s launch was switched to a larger Falcon 9 rocket once SpaceX ended its Falcon 1 rocket program.

Two SpaceX rocket mishaps over the last two years also contributed to the delays.

But the pre-launch worries faded Thursday with an on-target launch directly into Formosat 5’s planned operating perch around 450 miles (720 kilometers) above Earth. Formosat 5 will fly in a sun-synchronous orbit, allowing its camera to regularly take photos of locations around the world, supporting scientific research and disaster monitoring functions.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket soared through low clouds a few seconds after liftoff, then turned south on course to place its payload into an orbit flying over Earth’s poles.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 switched off its nine Merlin engines around two-and-a-half minutes into the mission, then detached 60 miles (100 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean to begin a ballistic plummet toward a remotely-controlled floating barge.

Meanwhile, the upper stage’s single Merlin engine fired six-and-a-half minutes to send Formosat 5 into orbit. About a minute after the Falcon 9 and Formosat 5 arrived in orbit, the first stage touched down on its landing target, making a propulsive vertical descent before settling on the platform with the aid of four deployable legs.

Moments later, Formosat 5 flew free from the Falcon 9’s upper stage. Live video from a camera mounted on the rocket showed the Taiwanese satellite receding from view.

The NSPO said ground controllers received the first radio signals from Formosat 5 via a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, around 83 minutes after liftoff, confirming the craft’s condition and health.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage was programmed to reignite its engine later Thursday for a de-orbit maneuver to burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX and Formosat 5’s owner declared success, making the Falcon 9 booster 12-for-12 this year after returning to service in the wake of an on-pad rocket explosion last year. Thursday’s launch also marked the 40th Falcon 9 flight overall since SpaceX debuted the first version of the launcher in June 2010.

The first stage on Thursday’s launch, a newly-manufactured booster, will return to port in Southern California in a few days for inspections, refurbishment and potential reuse on a future mission.

Thursday’s flight was the fifth time a Falcon 9 rocket has launched from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 4-East, a hillside launch complex previously used by heavy-lift Titan 4 rockets.

The Air Force’s Western Range manages tracking and support infrastructure at Vandenberg.

“The Falcon 9 launch of Formosat 5 was an incredible mission to be a part of,” said Capt. Kylie Pracher, Air Force launch commander for the Formosat 5 mission from the 1st Air and Space Test Squadron. “This was the first satellite manufactured and integrated entirely by Taiwan and it was also the fastest turnaround time between Falcon launches here at Space Launch Complex 4. Our Air Force team put in a lot of work to support the mission and provide fleet surveillance on behalf of the Space and Missile Systems Center.”

Taiwan’s National Space Organization, the country’s space agency, originally paid SpaceX around $23 million in 2010 for the launch, less than half of the advertised price of a Falcon 9 launch today.

One is an optical imaging payload capable of resolving features as small as 2 meters — about 6.6 feet — in black-and-white. The camera has half that resolution in color mode.

An advanced ionospheric probe from the National Central University in Taiwan is also aboard Formosat 5.

The ionospheric instrument is an “all-in-one plasma sensor to measure ionospheric plasma concentrations, velocities, and temperatures over a wide range of spatial scales,” according to a fact sheet released by NSPO. “The transient and long-term variations of ionospheric plasma can be monitored as seismic precursors associated with earthquakes.”

Formosat 5 was to be accompanied by a package of approximately 90 small satellites fastened to a multi-payload Sherpa adapter developed by Spaceflight, a Seattle-based company that builds lightweight spacecraft and brokers launch services for CubeSats on rideshare rocket flights.

But Spaceflight canceled that plan after the Formosat 5 launch faced years of delays in the aftermath of two Falcon 9 rocket failures that combined to ground SpaceX’s fleet for nearly a year. Formosat 5’s launch was shuffled later in SpaceX’s manifest for unexplained reasons.

Spaceflight has reserved a dedicated Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg next year with a Sherpa space tug expected to loft around 90 small satellites on the same rocket.

Meanwhile, the Seattle launch broker arranged for most of the 90 satellites slated to launch with Formosat 5 to fly on other rockets, including an Indian PSLV mission and a Russian Soyuz flight earlier this year.

Several others were rebooked on the next Sherpa adapter flying on a Falcon 9 next year.

Next up for SpaceX’s bi-coastal launch team is another Falcon 9 flight scheduled to blast off Sept. 7 from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The commercial rocket will heave the Air Force’s reusable X-37B space plane into orbit on a top secret mission, then its first stage will descend to a landing at Cape Canaveral a few minutes later.

The next Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is scheduled for Sept. 30 with the third batch of 10 next-generation voice and data relay satellites for Iridium.</s>The Latest on the launch of a satellite for Taiwan by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (all times local):

SpaceX has successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean during the launch of an Earth-observation satellite for Taiwan.

The Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:51 a.m. PDT on Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying the Formosat-5 satellite.

Minutes later the first stage separated and began its return, aiming for the unmanned ship named Just Read the Instructions.

Less than 11 minutes after launch, the first stage set down on the vessel, the latest success in SpaceX's drive for reusability.

Moments later the rocket's second stage deployed the satellite into low-Earth orbit.

An Earth-observation satellite for Taiwan's National Space Organization has been launched from California.

The Formosat-5 satellite lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:51 a.m. PDT on Thursday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX will attempt to land the rocket's first stage on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean while the second stage continues toward orbit.

The satellite is the first to be fully designed by Taiwan's space agency and is intended to advance the nation's space technology and scientific research while providing global imagery with a wide array of uses.

Its main instrument is a sensor that produces high-resolution black-and-white and color images.</s>VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Santa Barbara County (AP) — An Earth-observation satellite for Taiwan’s National Space Organization was launched into orbit from California on Thursday.

The Formosat-5 satellite lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:51 a.m. atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which successfully landed its first stage on a drone ship floating in the Pacific Ocean as the second stage continued on and deployed the satellite.

Moments before the first-stage touchdown the video link to the vessel froze, then reappeared and showed the rocket standing. Cheers erupted in the SpaceX control room in the Los Angeles suburb Hawthorne.

“This is the 15th successful landing of a Falcon 9,” said Lauren Lyons, the SpaceX webcast launch commentator.

Formosat-5 is the first satellite to be fully designed by Taiwan’s space agency and is intended to advance the nation’s space technology and scientific research while providing global imagery with a wide array of uses ranging from natural resource studies to disaster management.

Planned to operate for five years in low-Earth orbit, about 446 miles (720 kilometers) high, its main instrument is a sensor that can produce high-resolution black-and-white and color images.

A predecessor satellite, Formosat-2, produced more than 2.5 million images over 12 years of operation before it wore out and was decommissioned a year ago.

Formosat-5 also carries a secondary payload, an ionospheric probe for scientific research.

The landing of the Falcon 9 first stage aboard the drone ship Just Read the Instructions was the latest in a string of successful recoveries at sea or on shore by SpaceX, which sees reusability of major rocket components as key to driving down launch costs.

This past March, SpaceX reused a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time in a satellite launch from Florida and again successfully landed it. That first stage originally flew on a space station supply mission in April 2016.

© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — An Earth-observation satellite for Taiwan’s National Space Organization has been launched from California.

The Formosat-5 satellite lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:51 a.m. PDT on Thursday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX will attempt to land the rocket’s first stage on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean while the second stage continues toward orbit.

The satellite is the first to be fully designed by Taiwan’s space agency and is intended to advance the nation’s space technology and scientific research while providing global imagery with a wide array of uses.

Its main instrument is a sensor that produces high-resolution black-and-white and color images.</s>SpaceX successfully fired off another Falcon 9 rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on Thursday (24 August) lifting Formosat-5, a small Earth observation satellite for Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO), to low-Earth orbit. The historic launch marked the 12th one for SpaceX so far - the most number of launches for the Elon Musk-owned company and the most rockets fired off by any other space company or country in the world thus far.

Russia, in comparison, has launched 11 rockets so far in 2017. With five months to go, SpaceX could launch 20 rockets by the end of the year at its current pace.

Carrying Taiwan's first domestically designed satellite, SpaceX's Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:51 AM local time with the rocket's two stages separating about 2.5 minutes after launch. The company also nailed the landing and recovery of the first stage that safely settled on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Pacific Ocean about 10 minutes after liftoff.

The landed booster could be refurbished for another future flight in accordance with SpaceX's reusability goals to drive down the prices of space hardware and launches.

The latest successful landing brings SpaceX's record to 15 successful recoveries in 20 attempts so far and its 9th successful landing this year.

The half-ton Formosat 5 satellite, one of SpaceX's lightest payloads yet, was deployed about 11 minutes after launch to its targeted sun-synchronous orbit 447 miles (720 km) above the ground.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted: "The #satellite will gather images & data on earth's surface to help evaluate natural disasters. Congratulations to all at #Taiwan's #NSPO!"

Equipped with an optical Remote Sensing Instrument )RSI) and an Advanced Ionospheric Probe provided Taiwan's National Central University, the newly launched satellite will gather images and data for scientific research to aid Taiwain's national security, help evaluate natural disasters, monitor the environment, NSPO Director Chang Guey-shin said, Taipei Times reports.</s>LOS ANGELES: SpaceX on Thursday (Aug 24) launched the first satellite designed and built entirely in Taiwan, a spacecraft that aims to boost disaster forecasts and mapping, environmental observation and space research.

The satellite, called FORMOSAT-5, weighs nearly 450 kilogrammes and blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

"Falcon 9 has lifted off," SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons said as the rocket soared into the sky over the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, leaving billowing clouds of smoke in its wake.

The satellite is designed to last for five years, and will orbit the Earth once every 100 minutes.

Its predecessor, FORMOSAT-2, was decommissioned last year after 12 years, a lifespan in which it mapped a series of major disasters in parts of Asia and Africa.

It, too, had been designed to operate for just five years.

Continuing its effort to re-use expensive rocket components instead of jettisoning them into the ocean after each launch, SpaceX managed to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 on a platform floating in the Pacific Ocean.

"This is the 15th successful landing of a Falcon 9," Lyons said on the live webcast, as cheers erupted at SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California.

After separating from the second stage of the rocket, the taller, first stage portion powered its engines and made a controlled return to Earth.

Cameras mounted on the rocket showed it touch down, upright, on a drone ship named "Just Read the Instructions."

SpaceX plans to haul the rocket back to land and refurbish it so it can be used in a future launch.</s>LOS ANGELES: SpaceX on Thursday (Aug 24) launched the first satellite designed and built entirely in Taiwan, a spacecraft that aims to boost disaster forecasts and mapping, environmental observation and space research.

The satellite, called FORMOSAT-5, weighs nearly 450 kilogrammes and blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

"Falcon 9 has lifted off," SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons said as the rocket soared into the sky over the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, leaving billowing clouds of smoke in its wake.

The satellite is designed to last for five years, and will orbit the Earth once every 100 minutes.

Its predecessor, FORMOSAT-2, was decommissioned last year after 12 years, a lifespan in which it mapped a series of major disasters in parts of Asia and Africa.

It, too, had been designed to operate for just five years.
FORMOSAT-5, the first satellite fully designed by Taiwan's National Space Organization, is launched into low-earth orbit by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.