by Taiwan’s leaders are working on an ambitious new satellite system to keep the island online in the event of a disaster, while dealing with the ongoing threat of war with China.
Wu Jong-shin, director general of the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), told CNN in an exclusive interview that Taiwan is at an “experimental development stage” in efforts to build new indigenous communications satellites.
Once the system is up and running, it could work in a similar way to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system to provide internet access – albeit on a much smaller scale, said Wu, who heads Taiwan’s space programs from 2021. towards.
Starlink, operated by Musk’s SpaceX, uses a network of thousands of satellites to deliver the internet to users around the world, including areas where conventional connections are not available.
It has been used by the Ukrainian military on battlefields as a defense against the Russian invasion. In Gaza, devastated by Israel’s war against Hamas, it allowed staff at a field hospital to engage in real-time video medical consultations.
But Taiwan does not have access to Starlink because SpaceX has insisted on majority ownership of a proposed joint venture, a claim that is inconsistent with local Taiwanese laws. This was part of the reason Taiwan developed its own technology.
“The communications satellite is very important to our communications resilience in times of urgency,” Wu said, calling it his agency’s most sensitive project. “That’s very important to us, so we take it very seriously.”
Vulnerable network
The landscape and unique geopolitical location of Taiwan, about 100 miles off the coast of China, add urgency to an ambitious project. China’s Communist Party claims control of the island as part of its territory, and has repeatedly vowed to take it by force, if necessary.
Currently, Taiwan’s connectivity is served by 15 submarine internet cables that connect it to the rest of the world. But the cables are susceptible to damage. Last year, a group of Taiwanese islands were cut off from the internet for weeks after two submarine cables connecting them to the main island of Taiwan were damaged by passing ships.
High-speed internet is critical to the normal functioning of any society but, in the case of Taiwan, a deliberate attempt to subvert the system could have other consequences. In a report published by the National Defense and Security Research Institute, a research body affiliated with the Taiwanese government, experts warned that if Beijing were to cut internet cables across Taiwan, it could disrupt regular communications and cause panic. cause widespread.
Taiwanese authorities previously announced that the space agency would develop two communications satellites, the first of which could be launched by 2026. After that, it would help private companies launch four additional satellites to help them progress to do in the industry. However, Taiwan would need to launch hundreds of satellites if it were to create a system that provides uninterrupted backup internet access, experts told CNN.
Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, estimated that Taiwan would need at least 50 satellites to provide “reasonable” emergency coverage with its own satellite constellation – and the more the better.
“To really have the reliability bandwidth, so that everybody can service it, you’re going to need a lot more [satellites]you’re probably talking about in the hundreds,” he said.
“If a country is dedicated to it, it could certainly complete it,” he said. “Because most of it is just about getting the funding to ship them all.”
Su Tzu-yun, director of the National Institute for Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, said that while it would be “unrealistic” to think that Taiwan would be able to provide comprehensive internet coverage with just a few indigenous satellites, the space project is valuable . in the long run.
“Taiwan’s development in this area is very meaningful, because it allows us to enter the space industry and provides more flexibility for our military to access communication systems in our future weapons development,” a he said.
And before Taiwan achieves that capability, the island can still provide backup connectivity for the foreseeable future through a partnership with OneWeb, a satellite communications system headquartered in London, and other maritime satellite systems, he said.
Boost resilience
In recent years it has become an increasing priority for the island’s leaders to ensure that Taiwan’s communication systems remain operational in unusual times. Apart from assigning the satellite project to the space agency, the Taiwanese government established a digital affairs ministry in 2022 to boost communications resilience. That ministry is partnering with overseas satellite service providers and installing new terminal equipment in remote areas of Taiwan to provide connectivity.
By the end of 2024, 700 hotspots will be established across the island to allow satellite communications during emergency situations, the authorities announced in March. The initiative was useful during a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck eastern Taiwan in early April.
Although traditional communication systems were disrupted near the epicenter, authorities were able to use OneWeb to provide emergency internet access to rescuers and stranded personnel.
In the future, Taiwan’s satellite system could replace third-party markets, but Wu, the director of the space agency, declined to provide more specific details about the project’s timeline. The new administration is set to release an updated blueprint and timeline for its space program, including its communications satellite project, after Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te takes office, according to people familiar with the matter. the 20th of May.
Big ambitions in space
Taiwan’s space ambitions extend beyond developing indigenous communications satellites.
Wu said the main objective was to create a new industry in Taiwan that can capture growing opportunities in space projects internationally. Last year, President Tsai Ing-wen announced a NT$25.1 billion ($790 million) investment in the island’s space programs over the next decade, with the goal of helping companies in various industries – including chip design and machinery to be precise – enter the space industry. .
Despite its relatively small size, Wu believes Taiwan is a desirable place to develop space projects because of its undisputed role as a leader in advanced semiconductor chips – needed to power everything from computers to artificial intelligence.
One firm in Taiwan in particular, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), produces about 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors and supplies global technology giants such as Apple and Nvidia.
Apart from semiconductors, Wu believes that Taiwan’s progress in information technology and precision machinery brings benefits to the development of its space industry.
“Satellites are very complex systems,” he said. “In a satellite, you have 20,000 to 30,000 components. Once you send it into space, there’s no way you can call it back and fix it, so it’s very difficult, and it’s very expensive.”
To accelerate its development, Taiwan’s space agency is also working to develop a rocket system that can launch satellites into space. Taiwan relies on overseas suppliers to launch its satellites into space, such as the Triton, an indigenous weather satellite launched last year from French Guiana in South America.
“We are working on a launch vehicle, and we plan to send rockets into our low-Earth orbit starting in 2030,” Wu said, referring to a satellite orbit with an altitude lower than 1,000km above Earth . Once Taiwan has that technology, it will be able to conduct more frequent test flights.
“We have a strong foundation, and right now, I think we’re ready to take on the adventure more aggressively,” he said.
CNN’s Will Ripley and John Mees contributed to this report.
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