Taiwan's nascent space industry is on show at an expo in Kaohsiung. The country hopes to build a communications system similar to SpaceX's Starlink and make itself an essential part of the global space supply chain.
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00:00Taiwan is shooting for the stars with its nascent space program, and nowhere is that
00:05more apparent than here at this international space exhibition in Kaohsiung in the country's
00:10south.
00:11It's only the second time that Taiwan's space agency, TASA, has hosted the conference
00:16since the country began heavily investing in its space program, and they're looking
00:20to do more.
00:21Taiwan has a supply chain for communication satellite including space and the ground segment,
00:28and also we hope we can build a supply chain for optical remote sensing satellites.
00:34Right now, Taiwan's space aspirations are also about bringing connections down to earth.
00:40So far, Taiwan's homegrown satellites like these are used primarily to gather data about
00:45the weather.
00:47But in the coming years, the country has another goal, making sure that its soldiers and civilians
00:52have access to the internet in a crisis, using terminals like these.
00:57Low Earth Orbit Communication Satellites provide users with direct data access from
01:02space, ensuring connectivity even if ground towers are damaged during natural disasters
01:07or conflicts.
01:08It's often compared to SpaceX's Starlink system, which has played a vital role in
01:13maintaining Ukraine's connectivity during Russia's invasion of the country.
01:18Actually, as you guys know, Taiwan is an island, and most of our traffic goes through the submarine
01:25cable, and all goes to the fixed line in Taiwan locally.
01:29And satellite communication is quite brittle for us, just in case if there's any cut for
01:35the submarine cable or any cut in the fixed line in Taiwan.
01:39So SACON is like the final option of all the communication.
01:45Taiwan wants to keep most of the system in-house, hoping 80% of it will be produced domestically.
01:50The first of six initial communication satellites is scheduled to be launched in 2027.
01:56Taiwan wants not only to develop its domestic space program, but also to be a critical partner
02:01in global space supply chains, capitalizing on its capabilities in hardware manufacturing.
02:07If those efforts succeed, Taiwan and its whole space industry could be taken to a new frontier.
02:13Devin Tsai, Alec McDonald, and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.