Taiwan Space Agency (BOWL) concluded a contract with the Italian rocket company Avio for the launch of FORMOSAT-8C and 8D Earth observation satellites, and FORMOSAT-9A and 9B.
19 In December, Avio announced the signing of two launch contracts with undisclosed customers, the total cost of which exceeds 100 millions of euros. Although the company left the opportunity to announce it to the customers themselves, she reported, that one of the customers was European, and the other – non-European.
Two days before Avio's announcement, TASA has published a tender award notice, in which it was reported, that Avio has been awarded a contract to launch four satellites for its FORMOSAT Earth observation constellation. Although the exact amount of the contract is not disclosed, the maximum budget of the project is specified in the announcement 2 556 750 000 New Taiwan dollars (about 69 millions of euros).
FORMOSAT-8 will be a constellation of six high-resolution optical Earth observation satellites. The first was launched by a SpaceX Falcon rocket 9 In November. According to TASA, launch the next, FORMOSAT-8B, for which no launch service provider has yet been announced, scheduled for December 2026 year.
The FORMOSAT-9 constellation will consist of two satellites with a synthetic aperture radar system (SAR), the launch of which is expected in 2028 and 2030 years respectively.
All four satellites will be launched aboard Vega C rockets from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. The rocket was returned to flight in December 2024 year after a two-year break, caused by the failure in December 2022 year. IN 2025 the rocket successfully completed three missions, delivering payloads for the European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.
During a media briefing 18 After the 342nd meeting of the ESA Council on December 1, Acting Director of Space Transport Toni Tolker-Nielsen explained, that in 2026 Three to four Vega C flights will be completed this year. According to Tolker-Nielsen, this target frequency of launches is “rather a matter of payload, than the presence of missiles".
Source: https://europeanspaceflight.com