S'pore space industry nascent but progressing
Despite being in a fledgling phase, developments in the Singapore space industry have been "encouraging and progressive" in recent years, said the country's space association. The first locally built micro-satellite will launch later in the year.
"Singapore's space industry is still in its nascent stages, particularly when compared with regional and global counterparts," said a spokesperson from the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA) in an e-mail. However, the association feels developments in this area "have been encouraging and progressive in recent years".
SSTA is a non-profit association focused on developing the space technology industry in Singapore. It works with partners from the commercial industry, government agencies, academia, and research and technological institutes.
Among the recent developments, said SSTA, are the completion of a micro-satellite at the Centre for Research in Satellite Technologies (CREST), as well as an ongoing research study collaboration by the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP) and Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI).
The micro-satellite is the first to be designed and built locally and will be launched later this year. CREST is a joint collaboration between Singapore's national defense research institute DSO and the Satellite Engineering Centre (SEC) at local university Nanyang Technological University.
A DSO spokesperson told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail that the micro-satellite, dubbed X-SAT, can perform observation missions and environmental monitoring with near real-time data reception.
While DSO and SEC were unable to give the exact date of the launch, a report from local daily The Straits Times narrowed the launch date to around June and July, noting that it will be launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Apart from the micro-satellite collaboration with DSO, SEC director Low Kay Soon told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail that the center has started on an undergraduate satellite program. Since last year, it has been working on the concept design, mission planning and prototyping of a nanosatellite.
Low said the project's aim is to build an engineering model, qualification model and flight model for the nanosatellite over the next three years, before eventually launching it.
About 37 undergraduates are involved, with 20 second-year students constructing the satellite ground station, and 17 third- and final-year students working on various bus and structure subsystems for the nanosatellite.
Asked about current projects at CREST, Low was unable to disclose information, but said the Economic Development Board is working to attract more companies and that there will be several new space-related companies setting up in Singapore in the near future.
SSTA also told ZDNet Asia that CRISP and TMSI are collaborating over an ongoing research study on the marine environment of Semakau, an island off Singapore. CRISP operates a satellite ground station that acquires data from remote-sensing satellites and sends these images to TMSI. In turn, the latter uses these images to formulate a long-term conservation plan for the island.
SSTA itself is planning to produce a documentary of Singapore's race to space to capture the country's transformation into a major Asian space hub.
Reiterating the island-state's commitment to the space program was senior minister of state for trade and industry and education, S Iswaran, at the opening of Global Space and Technology Convention-Satellite Technology Asia on Jan. 28. He said Singapore can serve as a catalyst for further growth of the space industry in Asia, and noted that the country is traditionally strong in aerospace, precision engineering and electronics ecosystems.
Iswaran also added that Singapore has a pro-business environment to complement the growth of satellite service providers in Asia, and is building up research capabilities in space-related technologies, with CREST developing ties with its overseas counterparts in Korea, Germany and India.