9:15 AM - 9:30 AM
[PCG20-02] The Science mission of the Taiwanese FORMOSAT-8A satellite – Exploration of the Atmospheric Transients and Airglow
Keywords:Lightning, Transient luminous event, airglow, FORMOSAT
The FORMOSAT-8A (FS8A) is the next mission of the Taiwan FORMOSAT satellite series. Its main payload is an optical imager used for earth observation. In addition to that, a science payload consisting of two sensors: a Dual-Band Imager of Atmospheric Transient (DIAT) and an ionospheric electron probe TeNeP is also equipped. The DIAT includes two bore-sighted, miniatured optical cameras with filters centered at 630nm and 300 nm, respectively, for observing airglow and atmospheric transients such as lightning and sprites. With the heritage of the ISUAL/FORMOSAT-2 and the Dual-band Optical Camera (DOTcam) onboard the Japanese international collaboration microsat RISESAT, the DIAT can be programmed to take snapshots or capture transients in the nadir direction. It is also the first time we extend observation interest from optical to UV band, which can be done from space only to explore the physics of the energetic emission by lightning or associated phenomena. The second science sensor TeNeP installed in the place facing the ram direction. By an innovative measuring method, TeNeP is free of the deviation caused by surface contamination in the conventional plasma instrument driven by voltage sweeping and can precisely measure the electron temperature and density in the ionosphere. It is also the maiden experiment of this new space instrument. A science payload electronic unit (SPEU) is also developed to control the sensors, manipulate the onboard processing of science data, such as lossless data compressing, and communicate with the spacecraft bus. The science and development of this science payload will be reported in this presentation, and the results of the environmental and performance tests are also addressed.