TiSPACE

Key takeaways

TiSPACE belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect TiSPACE to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of TiSPACE from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

TiSPACE, officially Taiwan Innovative Space Inc. (Chinese: 台灣晉陞太空股份有限公司), is a space launch company from Taiwan.

History TiSPACE was founded in 2016 by a group of investors, scientists, and engineers led by Yen-Sen Chen who had previously worked at the NSPO and at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. In 2019 they signed an MOU with National Central University to promote domestic space launch and the space technology sector. They also attended the International Astronautical Congress, a first for a Taiwanese company. TiSPACE scrapped their launch facility in Taiwan due to legal issues. In August 2021 TiSPACE announced plans to launch from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in Australia rather than Taiwan. They received the first flight approval permit ever issued by the Australian government. TiSPACE used the name of a prawn farm as a cover to illegally establish a rocket launch site on indigenous land in Nantian Village, Daren Township, Taitung County, without obtaining the consent of the local Indigenous community. The company was subsequently fined multiple times by the Taitung County Government and ordered to restore the land to its original state. However, by 2024, TiSPACE had not only failed to restore the land but had also added new buildings and expanded the concrete paving, violating the Regional Planning Act. As a result, the former chairman, Li Jinyi, was sentenced to 50 days' imprisonment and fined. In December 2017, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) entered into a NT$54.8 million contract with Taiwan TiSPACE Co., Ltd. for the provision of a multifunctional hybrid sounding rocket launch service, under which TiSPACE was responsible for carrying out the sounding rocket launch mission. TASA disbursed NT$43.84 million over the first five payment milestones in accordance with the contract. However, despite three extensions of the completion deadline, TiSPACE failed to complete the final milestone, which required the sounding rocket flight and submission of the final project report. TASA alleged that TiSPACE had failed to perform the contract as agreed, concealed that it had obtained an Australian launch permit, and reassigned the rocket originally designated for the project to a separate collaboration with a third party. TASA subsequently terminated the contract and sought restitution of the payments made together with liquidated damages. TiSPACE argued that the delays were attributable to the Australian regulatory approval process, international political circumstances, and TASA's failure to deliver the scientific payload in a timely manner. The Hsinchu District Court held that the agreement was a contract for work, found that TiSPACE had failed to perform its principal contractual obligations, concealed material information regarding its performance, and diverted the rocket to another project, constituting a material breach of contract. The court ruled that TASA had lawfully terminated the contract within the statutory period and ordered TiSPACE to return the payments received and pay liquidated damages, totaling NT$54.8 million plus statutory interest. The judgment remains subject to appeal.

Facilities Structural dynamics tests are performed at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering.

Hot fire test facility TiSPACE conducts engine tests at its vertical hot fire test facility.

Nantian launch facility TiSPACE’s launch facility is located in the Nantian are of Taitung county. According to TiSPACE the facility features "launch pad, launch support rail, an oxidizer filling facility, vehicle/payload assembly building, launch command center, and tracking/communication antenna."

Launch vehicles

HAPITH I (Kestrel I) HAPITH I (known as Kestrel I when operated by ATSpace) is a two stage sub-orbital rocket designed to validate TiSPACE's hybrid-propellant rocket system. The HAPITH I has 100% domestically sourced components. Hapith is Saisiyat for flying squirrel. The first launch of the HAPITH I was scheduled for December 27, 2019 but was called off after protest from the local indigenous community. With the blessings of the community the launch was rescheduled for February 13 and was to include a Paiwan blessing of the rocket. The February 13 launch was scrubbed due to weather. As of August 2021, the first launch of HAPITH I was scheduled to take place at Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex, South Australia, in late 2021. On 16 September 2021, 06:39 UTC the Hapith I rocket (flight VS01) launched from Whalers Way Pad 1 on a suborbital test flight. This was the maiden flight of Hapith I and first of three test launches from Pad 1 at Whalers Way. The rocket started to climb off the launch pad, but caught fire and fell over, supposedly due to pipework failure. Fire was Intended apogee of the flight was 250 km (160 mi). As payload the rocket carried an Ionosphere Scintillation Package (ISP) for NSPO for the purpose of Ionospheric scintillation research. Two more test launches of the vehicle, conducted by ATSpace under the Kestrel I name, are scheduled for late 2022. HAPITH I has two stages; the first stage has 4 motors, and the second stage has a single motor. All motors are similar, having a composite outer shell with styrene-butadiene rubber as fuel and nitrous oxide as oxidizer.

HAPITH V The HAPITH V is a three stage orbital rocket in development from the HAPITH I with an approximate height of 20 m, a diameter of 2.2 m, and a first stage thrust of 650 kN. The target payload is 390 kg to LEO and 350 kg to SSO. It will be TiSPACE’s first commercial offering. HAPITH V has three stages; the first stage has 5 motors, the second stage has 4 motors, and the third stage has a single motor. All motors are similar, having a composite outer shell with styrene-butadiene rubber as fuel and nitrous oxide as oxidizer.

See also List of companies of Taiwan NewSpace Gilmour Space Technologies Advanced Rocket Research Center National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with TiSPACE

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what TiSPACE claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to TiSPACE before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about TiSPACE ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of TiSPACE

In research: TiSPACE appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses TiSPACE in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: TiSPACE is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aerospace companies of Taiwan, Private spaceflight companies, Space program of Taiwan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for TiSPACE outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study TiSPACE in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what TiSPACE means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain TiSPACE out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is TiSPACE in simple terms?

TiSPACE, officially Taiwan Innovative Space Inc. (Chinese: 台灣晉陞太空股份有限公司), is a space launch company from Taiwan.

Why does TiSPACE matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study TiSPACE?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on TiSPACE.