Academic News
Taiwan’s first domestically developed lunar science payload, the National Central University (NCU) Deep Space Radiation Probe (DSRP), has successfully transmitted its first batch of scientific data after being launched from Florida, USA aboard the Resilience lunar lander of Japan’s ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 2. This milestone marks a significant achievement, bringing great excitement to the NCU scientific team.
According to Professor Loren Chang, Chair of NCU’s Department of Space Science and Engineering, the lunar lander Resilience surpassed 10,000 kilometers in altitude on launch day, exiting low Earth orbit. The DSRP is Taiwan’s first scientific payload to leave low Earth orbit, continuously setting new records for the flight distance of a Taiwanese space payload.
To ensure mission success, the team conducted extensive ground testing within limited time and space constraints, rigorously verifying functionality and performance despite numerous challenges. Their efforts paid off with a successful launch and data downlink.
The HAKUTO-R Mission 2 lunar lander carries three scientific payloads, with NCU being the only academic institution involved. The team has successfully converted raw data into radiation dose measurements and observed multiple bit-flip events caused by cosmic rays, demonstrating promising results.
The mission’s primary scientific objective is to measure ionizing radiation dosesbetween Earth and the Moon as well as on the lunar surface. The collected data will contribute to the development of more precise radiation-resistant designs for future space components and capsules, while also providing important information for crewed flights.
The team member who traveled to Florida to witness the launch firsthand was first year graduate student Chou Yi-Hsuan. She described the experience as thrilling, with liftoff occurring at 1:11 AM local time. Having been involved in the design and implementation of flight software and environmental testing since her sophomore year, she expressed deep emotion in seeing her dream come true.
