Artist's impression of one of the ROCSAT-3/COSMIC satellites in space. Photo: NSPO

Taiwan has chosen Orbital Sciences to build a fleet of six microsatellites that aims to study Earth's atmosphere to aid scientists in weather and climate forecasting and ionosphere and gravity research fields.

The $56 million project is known as the Republic of China Satellite-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate, or ROCSAT-3/COSMIC for short.

"We are extremely pleased and honored that NSPO has selected us as their partner in this groundbreaking project. The ROCSAT/COSMIC mission will be the third space mission in the history of Taiwan's national space program and the first to employ a constellation of microsatellites, which is an Orbital specialty," said Orbital CEO and Chairman David W. Thompson. "We are looking forward to a long and close working relationship with NSPO and the program's industrial partners in Taiwan."

Orbital will take part in the design and analysis of the six-satellite fleet, development of the spacecraft bus, the manufacturing of the instruments to fly aboard the spacecraft, satellite testing both on the ground and in orbit, and possibly more.

The satellites will be based on Orbital's MicroStar spacecraft design which average around 150 pounds, but can widely vary in weight depending on the mission.

The six craft are scheduled to launch in early 2005 to begin a five-year mission in Earth orbit. It is expected that the constellation would be launched at once on the same mission, but plans have not yet been announced.