ROCSAT-1 Sending Science Data to Earth; Lightweight Satellite Developed by TRW.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 1999--The Republic of China's first satellite, ROCSAT-1, developed by TRW jointly with the Republic's National Space Program Office (NSPO), is sending science data back to Earth.

Launched into a 600-kilometer low-Earth orbit on Jan. 26, the 880-pound lightweight satellite contains three science instruments, including an ocean color imager, space physics instrument and an experimental telecommunications experiment.

These payloads were chosen for their broad scientific interest among researchers at institutions and universities in Taiwan.

"The space physics instrument was the first to be turned on," said Jerry Gliksman, TRW's ROCSAT program manager. "This instrument is now sending back excellent data that is measuring the ionization of the earth's upper atmosphere along ROCSAT's orbit.

"ROCSAT is also sending data from the ocean color imager that will help to determine the presence of photoplankton, ocean current boundaries, pollution and outfall from rivers. This information will help determine the utility of remote sensing data for the fishing industry, which is critical to Taiwan."

The third payload is an experiment on Ka-band communications to characterize the environmental effects of Ka-band transmission over that region of the world.

NSPO also plans on various experiments on voice, video and data communications.

The data from the space physics and ocean color imager is sent from the satellite to newly built ground stations in Chung-Li and Tainan, Taiwan, and then transmitted to the NSPO at Hsinchu for processing. From there, it is distributed to scientists at universities and research institutes throughout Taiwan for evaluation.

The space physics data will also be distributed to the University of Texas, Dallas, where much of the research in this area has been conducted for years. Separate ground and mobile stations are under final construction for the Ka-band experiment.

ROCSAT-1 is based on the TRW small spacecraft family, a series of modular satellites whose flexible design is readily tailored to mission-specific requirements. This family includes the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer-Earth Probe (TOMS-EP).

TRW Space & Electronics Group builds communications, scientific and defense spacecraft; produces, integrates and tests payloads and advanced space instruments; and integrates experiments into spacecraft.

It is an operating unit of TRW Inc., which provides advanced technology products and services for the automotive, space and defense and information technology markets worldwide. TRW Inc.'s 1998 worldwide sales were approximately $12 billion.

More details on ROCSAT's scientific instruments:

--Ocean Color Imager (OCI). Built by NEC Corp., the OCI features six spectral bands and has an 800-meter resolution. --Ionospheric Plasma Electrodynamics Instrument (IPEI). IPEI, the space physics experiment, was built by the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). UTD built the sensor portion and integrated the instrument. TRW built the electronics under a subcontract to UTD. --Experimental Communications Payload (ECP). Built by NEC Corp., the ECP, or Ka-band experiment, tests transmissions at Ka-band frequencies.