Taipei, Aug 25 (IANS): Taiwan has launched Formosat-5, the first homegrown observation satellite, from an air base in the US, the island nation's National Space Organisation (NSO) announced on Friday.
The octagonal satellite - 2 metres high and 1.2 metres in diameter - cost some 3 billion Taiwanese dollars ($100 million) and made contact with a station in Norway at 4.13 a.m., Efe news quoted NSO as saying.
The satellite is equipped with Complementary Metal-oxide-semiconductor sensors to observe the Earth.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called the launch a great leap that demonstrates Taiwan's technological progress.