Taiwan’s first ever lunar probe was launched into space as part a larger moon landing organized by Japanese startup Ispace Inc. Taiwan’s probe was designed to study the conditions in space between the Earth and Moon, with the aim of making future deep space missions safer. It was launched from Kennedy Space center in the U.S. state of Florida on a SpaceX rocket.
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00:005, 4, 3, 2, 1, yeah!
00:07It's been all cheers here at the Space Science and Engineering Department
00:11at National Central University in Taoyuan,
00:14which is about an hour's drive from Taipei.
00:16Astronomy students and professors are celebrating the launch
00:20of an unmanned SpaceX rocket from Florida,
00:24which for the first time is carrying two lunar landers,
00:29which will take their own paths to the moon once it reaches orbit.
00:34One of them is Japanese startup iSpace's lander called Resilience,
00:42which is also carrying Taiwan's first-ever probe expected to make it to the moon.
00:48Eyes have been glued to this screen,
00:50a live feed of the view from the launch site, NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
00:54Students and professors in this department
00:57have a very personal stake in the mission
01:00as the makers of the Taiwanese payload.
01:03Their Deep Space Radiation Probe, or DSRP,
01:06is attached to the exterior of the Japanese lander,
01:10exposed directly to space.
01:12We had a smooth launch the first time, which is very nice.
01:16It doesn't always happen, but we launched successfully the first time.
01:19Launch is just the beginning of the mission,
01:21so there's a lot more to go,
01:23but we're really, really excited to be able to go beyond low Earth orbit,
01:26go to the moon,
01:27and hopefully be Taiwan's first successful lunar payload on the moon.
01:33The DSRP measures radiation doses
01:35and other aspects of the harsh environments
01:38between the Earth and the moon, and on the moon itself.
01:42This is all important information
01:44to help build better spacecraft for deep space in the future,
01:48as well as to help astronauts survive it.
01:51For iSpace, this is a mission of redemption.
01:55Its first attempt in 2023
01:57ended with the lander crashing on the lunar surface.
02:01Now, the resilience lander is expected to reach the moon
02:04in about four months.
02:06Taiwan's probe, though, is already on the clock,
02:09taking its measurements and unlocking the path
02:12to deep space for Taiwan and other countries around the world.
02:16I'm Kama Chu and I'm in Taoyuan for Taiwan Plus.