Satellitengeodäsie

Formosat-3 / Cosmic

The Formosat-3/COSMIC - Formosa Satellite Mission-Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (F-3/C) is a joint project between Taiwan and the USA for weather, climate, space weather, and geodetic research. The F/C mission was successfully launched in April 2006. The mission consists of six micro satellites, each carrying an advanced GPS RO receiver, a Tiny Ionospheric Photometer sensor (TIP) and a Tri Band Beacon (TBB) (Rockenet al., 2000). The satellites were gradually raised from their launched orbit to reach their final orbit altitude of 800 km. F/C mission is currently providing between1000-2500 daily RO profiles in the neutral atmosphere, 1,000 and 2,500 daily electron density profiles and total electron content arcs, and TIP radiance products (UCAR, 2011). The picture shows a schematic view of F/C space-craft. More details can be found at Taiwan Analysis Center for COSMIC (TACC) website (http://tacc.cwb.gov.tw/en/).