Los Angeles, Aug. 25 (CNA) FormoSat-5, Taiwan's first domestically developed satellite, is operating smoothly after being in orbit for a day, an official from Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) said in the United States Friday.
Communication between the satellite and the ground station in Taiwan, which first took place 404 minutes after the launch, is taking place smoothly, according to Chang Ho-pen, director of the NSPO project to build FormoSat-5.
The satellite is able to receive orders from the ground station, while the NSPO also can get transmissions from the satellite, he said.
The miniature satellite first made contact with planet Earth through the NSPO's ground antenna in Svalbard, Norway roughly 83 minutes after liftoff.
Chang added that he of course wishes the FormoSat-5 can begin its mission as soon as possible, but that there are still tests and adjustments that need to be made now that the satellite is 720 kilometers up in space, in order to ensure optimum performance.
The satellite is expected to begin providing data that can be used for national security, geopolitical, scientific and academic purposes in about two weeks, NSPO said.
It was launched from California Thursday by U.S. company SpaceX.