Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Formosat-2

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated July 30, 2025
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Formosat-2 (Chinese: 福爾摩沙衛星二號, formerly known as ROCSAT-2) is a decommissioned Earth observation satellite formerly operated by the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan. It was a high-resolution photographic surveillance satellite with a daily revisit capability. Images are commercially available from Astrium (formerly Spot Image).

01Launch

Formosat-2 was launched on 19 May 2004, 17:47 UTC from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Taurus XL rocket. It had been delivered to the United States in December 2003, and had a scheduled launch date on 17 January 2004. The launch was continually delayed until May 2004. Formosat-2 was decommissioned in August 2016.

Watch videos about Formosat-2Explainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Formosat-2”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.

Continue exploring

Related topics

Taiwan Space Agency

Taiwan Space Agency, formerly the National Space Organization (NSPO) from 1991 to 2023, is the national civilian space agency of Taiwan, under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council. TASA is involved in the development of space technologies and related research.

2004 in spaceflight

This article outlines notable events occurring in 2004 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs.

ONGLAISAT

ONGLAISAT is a CubeSat developed by the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) in partnership with the University of Tokyo's Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory. Features an experimental off-axis optical system, experimental imaging sensor, and an experimental data compression system.