Taiwan’s FS-8A Satellite Launch Signals a Major Leap in its Sovereign Space Capabilities 

The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) is advancing its indigenous defense capabilities with the successful November 29 (Taipei time) launch of the Formosat-8 (FS-8A) satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the first in a new constellation of eight high-resolution optical remote-sensing satellites. Featuring 84 percent domestically developed critical components, the FS-8A launch signals a major leap toward Taiwan’s sovereign space capabilities and represents a critical step in hardening its national infrastructure.
 
Why It Matters
 
A stronger and resilient Taiwan acts as a critical asset for regional security. By developing an indigenous satellite network, Taiwan reduces its dependence on vulnerable undersea cables that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could sever during a blockade. Think tanks like the Global Taiwan Institute and the Atlantic Council have highlighted low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations as a necessary “Plan B” for ensuring communication links in the event that subsea infrastructure is disrupted.

Satellite data also enables Taiwan to more effectively monitor the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) movements by focusing on short-range missile threats and coastal amphibious staging grounds, directly supporting U.S. objectives to deter aggression across the Taiwan Strait.
 
Congressional Attention
 
Legislative momentum in Washington reflects the strategic importance of this sector. Building on the bicameral effort from last Congress, Representative French Hill (R-AR) reintroduced H.R. 5626, the Taiwan and American Space Assistance (TASA) Act of 2025. The bill has already garnered strong bipartisan backing, with 15 cosponsors, including Reps. Gabe Amo (D-RI), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Dave Min (D-CA), and Ted Lieu (D-CA). This legislation directs NASA and NOAA to expand cooperation with TASA on civilian space efforts, including satellites, exploration, and atmospheric research.
 
Additionally, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2025 Annual Report highlights the urgency of providing additional “non-weaponry support services,” including resilient communications, space-based sensing, and other enabling capabilities, to bolster U.S. and allied posture in the Indo-Pacific, thereby validating the strategic logic behind the TASA Act’s push for deeper technical cooperation in resilient satellite technology.
 
Implications
 
The success of FS-8A will accelerate the pace of future U.S.-Taiwan technology partnerships, applying lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war on how commercial satellite imagery and communications can sustain national resilience during conflict.
 
While newly launched systems like the Bellbird-1 cubesat and its planned sister satellites will further expand Taiwan’s indigenous communications network, Taiwan’s own space leadership has estimated that the country will need approximately 150 LEO satellites for “basic communication resilience.”  As a result, collaboration with U.S. and international partners remains critical in the interim to ensuring cross-Strait stability.

Sources:
[1] TASA
[2] Focus Taiwan
[3] Focus Taiwan
[4] Congress.gov
[5] USCC
[6] PeoPo
[7] Taipei Times