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FORMOSAT 7 / COSMIC-2

FORMOSAT 7 (COSMIC-2) [SSTL]

FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) is an international collaboration between Taiwan (NSPO) and the United States (NOAA) that will use a constellation of twelve remote sensing microsatellites to collect atmospheric data for weather prediction and for ionosphere, climate and gravity research. It is a follow up mission to the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission.

The new constellation provides improved performance and a five times increase in number of measurements. The precision will also be improved.

Formosat-7 will establish operational Mission of near real-numerical weather prediction. It will collect 8000 (threshold) profiles per day (the objective number is 10000).

NSPO will design, procure, and integrate 12 spacecraft and integrate the GNSS payload provided by JPL. SSTL will provide the SSTL-100 busses. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) RO payload, named TGRS for TriG (Tri-GNSS) GNSS Radio Occultation System, is being developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and will be capable of tracking up to 12,000 high-quality profiles per day after both constellations are fully deployed. The satellite have GPS, GALILEO and GLONASS tracking capability. NOAA will procure the launch vehicles.

The U.S. Air Force is partnering on COSMIC-2 and will provide two space weather payloads that will fly on the first six satellites: RF Beacon transmitters and Velocity, Ion Density, and Irregularities (VIDI) instruments.

The first launch of six satellites of the low inclination constellation was planned for 2017, the second launch into the high inclination orbits will take place in 2019. The last launch might include a seventh Taiwan built back-up satellite, FORMOSAT 7R.

The first cluster, called COSMIC 2A, is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) rocket in 2018 on the STP-2 demonstration mission as one of the two main payloads.

The second cluster in polar orbit, COSMIC 2B was planned for a launch in 2020, but was cancelled in October 2017 due to a lack of funding.

Nation: Taiwan (Republic of China), USA
Type / Application: Earth observation
Operator: NSPO → TASA / NOAA
Contractors: NSPO (prime), JPL (payload), SSTL (bus)
Equipment: TGRS
Configuration: SSTL-100
Propulsion: Hydrazine monopropellant system
Power: Deployable solar array, batteries
Lifetime: 5 years
Mass: 278 kg
Orbit: 710 km × 724 km, 23.99° (#7A); 710 km × 724 km, 24.00° (#7B); 708 km × 724 km, 23.99° (#7C); 709 km × 724 km, 24.00° (#7D); 708 km × 724 km, 24.00° (#7E); 709 km × 721 km, 24.00° (#7F); 750 km × 750 km, 72° (#7G - 7L)
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
FORMOSAT 7A (COSMIC-2A 1) 2019-036L 25.06.2019 CCK LC-39A Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, FalconSat 7, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat
FORMOSAT 7B (COSMIC-2A 2) 2019-036N 25.06.2019 CCK LC-39A Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7A, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, FalconSat 7, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat
FORMOSAT 7C (COSMIC-2A 3) 2019-036E 25.06.2019 CCK LC-39A Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7A, 7B, 7D, 7E, 7F, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, FalconSat 7, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat
FORMOSAT 7D (COSMIC-2A 4) 2019-036M 25.06.2019 CCK LC-39A Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7A, 7B, 7C, 7E, 7F, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, FalconSat 7, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat
FORMOSAT 7E (COSMIC-2A 5) 2019-036V 25.06.2019 CCK LC-39A Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7F, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, FalconSat 7, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat
FORMOSAT 7F (COSMIC-2A 6) 2019-036Q 25.06.2019 CCK LC-39A Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, FalconSat 7, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat
FORMOSAT 7G (COSMIC-2B 1) - cancelled Va or Kd Minotaur-4 (baselined) with FORMOSAT 7H, 7I, 7J, 7K, 7L
FORMOSAT 7H (COSMIC-2B 2) - cancelled Va or Kd Minotaur-4 (baselined) with FORMOSAT 7G, 7I, 7J, 7K, 7L
FORMOSAT 7I (COSMIC-2B 3) - cancelled Va or Kd Minotaur-4 (baselined) with FORMOSAT 7G, 7H, 7J, 7K, 7L
FORMOSAT 7J (COSMIC-2B 4) - cancelled Va or Kd Minotaur-4 (baselined) with FORMOSAT 7G, 7H, 7I, 7K, 7L
FORMOSAT 7K (COSMIC-2B 5) - cancelled Va or Kd Minotaur-4 (baselined) with FORMOSAT 7G, 7H, 7I, 7J, 7L
FORMOSAT 7L (COSMIC-2B 6) - cancelled Va or Kd Minotaur-4 (baselined) with FORMOSAT 7G, 7H, 7I, 7J, 7K

References:

Further COSMIC missions: