Orbital FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC - Manual

Earth Science/
Remote Sensing
Mission Description
The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC program is an international collaboration between Taiwan and the United
States that employs a constellation of six remote sensing microsatellites to collect atmospheric data for
weather prediction and for ionosphere, climate and gravity research. Data from the satellites is available
to the international scientific community in near real-time. FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC was launched aboard
Orbital’s Minotaur I space launch vehicle on April 15, 2006.
Orbital was responsible for constellation design and analysis, development of the spacecraft bus,
payload instrument development, and oversight of components made by Taiwan local vendors. Orbital
provided assistance with system integration, satellite integration and testing in Taiwan, early on-orbit
checkout and satellite positioning.
FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC is the third
space mission in the history of Taiwan’s
national space program and the first to
employ a constellation of microsatellites.
Originally developed for the ORBCOMM
data communications network,
Orbital’s MicroStar
™ spacecraft has
been adapted to missions for NASA,
DARPA and several commercial and
international customers, such as
Taiwan’s NSPO.
Mission:
• Constellation Observing System for
Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate
• Constellation of six MicroStar
spacecraft to collect atmospheric
sounding data for scientific research
and operational testing
Customer:
National Space Organization –
Hsinchu City, Taiwan
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Six FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites mated
to the Minotaur launch vehicle.
FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC)
LEO