Wu Zongxin (right), director of the Space Center, and the director of National Taiwan University Cancer Hospital signed a memorandum of cooperation.

(Photo by reporter Yang Yuanting)

[Reporter Yang Yuanting/Taipei Report] Taiwan will launch the national-level "Silaya Rocket Project" next year. If the funding is supported by the Legislative Yuan, it will be able to send domestically-made, self-launched and self-tested rockets as soon as 2026. Go to space!

Wu Zongxin, director of the National Space Center, revealed yesterday that the space center will launch the "Syraya Rocket Project" next year, which will build a complete MIT rocket and launch it into space at the national launch site that is being addressed. For the first time, Taiwan has reached the milestone of self-made rockets, self-launched, and self-tested space components.

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The space center will be changed to an administrative legal entity next year

The space center will be reorganized into an administrative legal entity next year. Wu Zongxin, known as "Rocket Arbo", signed a memorandum of cooperation on behalf of the space center and the National Taiwan University Cancer Doctor yesterday. In his speech, he said that the space center will be renamed "TASA (Taiwan Space Agency)". , and will launch the "Silaya Rocket Project" next year.

In an interview after the meeting, Wu Zongxin pointed out that the "Silaya Rocket Project" is to send space components that need to be tested to space for testing through rockets. All the components, materials, and manufacturing processes of the rocket are built in Taiwan, and the rocket will also be launched in Taiwan. The required space components can be tested after the launch of the rocket. If the funds are successfully received, the Siraya rocket is expected to take off in 2026 at the earliest.

National launch site may be in Dongping

According to the "Space Development Act", the space center is responsible for the construction of the national launch site.

Wu Zongxin said that the Pingtung Xuhai rocket launch site is small in scale and suitable for small and short-term rocket launch plans. The method and site selection criteria have also been formulated, including nearly ten factors that must be considered, such as traffic, size, and whether there are residents within one or two kilometers of the site. At that time, the committee will use scientific data methods to select the site.

Wu Zongxin pointed out that all the Siraya rocket project will be completed in Taiwan, "this kind of project will not have foreign assistance." The development began in 2010, and the launch was successful in June this year. The total cost is about 45.2 billion Taiwan dollars. He estimated that the overall cost of Taiwan's Siraya rocket program should be less than that of South Korea, and the time is shorter; The successful implementation of the Raya rocket project is expected to complement the last piece of the "launch service" puzzle in Taiwan's satellite industry's "launch services", "satellite manufacturing", "ground equipment" and "back-end applications".

As for why the project was named "Silaya"?

Wu Zongxin said that Siraya is the clan name of the Pingpu people in Taiwan. In the past, the main activity area was in the Jianan Plain, which means that the mother of the earth of Taiwan was sent to space.

The Pingtung Xuhai rocket launch site is currently the only site in China, and its scale is relatively small. The national launch site to be built by the space center may be located in Pingtung or Taitung.

(Courtesy of the National Space Center)