Space technology boosted with new hub at Chumphon campus
King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) recently opened the country’s new space hub at its Chumphon campus in Thailand’s south in a bid to push Thailand towards becoming a leader in space technology in the Asean region.
“Thailand has more than 35,000 businesses that are related to or could benefit from space economy, with a combined economic value of about 56 billion baht per year,” Associate Professor Komsan Maleesee, KMITL’s rector, said on Tuesday.
“Having a space hub at the regional level will create new career opportunities in hundreds of professions, as well as allow local administrations to use space technology for monitoring of natural disasters, floods, drought, PM2.5 air pollution, forest fires and the impact of climate change,” he added.
Komsan noted that Chumphon province has been surveyed by international space organisations who agreed that its location near the Equator was optimal for building a spaceport. The new space hub will add Thailand to the list of the world’s top locations for launch facilities after Africa, Brazil and the Philippines.
The new space hub also aims to serve as a learning and research centre for space innovation and technology for academics, researchers, entrepreneurs, startups and students who are interested in this field. The facilities comprise five main components:
1. Very High Frequency (VHF) weather station with space radar. Built in 2020 in collaboration with Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, it is Asia’s first space-based weather station and is located in one of the best four locations in the world.
2. Earthquake and Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The centre was built in April this year under a collaborative project with the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation.
3. The Excellence Centre of Space Technology and Research (ECSTAR), which houses upstream space innovation and technology such as satellite building and launching.
4. Institute of Space-Earth Environment Research that focuses on downstream applications of space technology such as satellite imagery for forest protection and natural security.
5. Space Learning Park, a space-related learning zone for all ages.
