Launch of Thai remote sensing satellite on Oct 7 to be broadcast live

The Gistda announced that it would broadcast the launch of Theos-2 at 8.36am Thailand time on its website and YouTube channel when the satellite will be deployed by a rocket to be launched from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, a region of France in South America.

The term Theos is short for Thailand Earth Observation Satellite.

Theos-2 was developed by Thai scientists under the Gistda with cooperation from the Thai and French governments.

Minister of Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Supamas Isarabhakdi said the new satellite would become one of two earth observation satellites operated by Gistda.

She said Theos-2 is capable of taking high-resolution image of objects with dimension of at least 50x50 centimetres.

It will be capable of taking aerial photos of Thailand at 74,000 square kilometres per day and feed the photos back to Gistda’s earth station in Si Racha district of Chonburi province.

The aerial photos will be used to update geo-information of Thailand so that the government could respond to natural disasters in time, she said.

The minister added that the updated information would be useful for the management of water and other natural resources, and would be useful for the development of Thailand’s space technological infrastructure and space personnel.

Supamas said aerial photos and data from Theos-2 will be available to both state and private agencies as well as educational institutions for commercial and educational use.

The information will be available to all levels from startups to large corporations, she added.

Gistda executive director Pakorn Apaphant said Theos-2 is the second satellite developed by Thailand for remote sensing. The first one, Thai Chote or Theos-1, was launched on October 1, 2008.

Pakorn said information from Theos-2 would support the sustainable development of the country and it would be useful for development to narrow the economic disparities in the long run.

According to Gistda’s website, the Theos-2 project was approved by the Cabinet on March 14, 2017.

Initially, the second remote sensing satellite was supposed to have been launched in 2021 to replace Theos-1, which was expected to expire in 2013.

Good maintenance of Theos-1, however, has allowed it to continue its operations until now.

Theos-2 will be a low earth orbit satellite and will be in an orbit about 621 kilometres above the earth.

It measures 1.2-metre wide, 1.2-metre long and 1.8-metre high and weighs about 425 kilograms. With fuel, it will weigh about 455kg.

The new satellite is mounted with an optical image that uses 50x50cm pixel, capable of taking aerial photos with 10.3-km width. The satellite can take photos of 74,000 square km for feeding back to the earth station each day.

The satellite has an estimated 10-year life span. Thai officials, however, expect it to be operational for at least two or three times the estimated life span, based on their experience with Theos-1. The life span of Theos-1 was estimated at five years, but it continues to be operational 15 years later.

Theos-2 will have a sun synchronous orbit. It is designed to take photos along 386 orbital lines and will return to the same position every 26 days.

It will orbit past Thailand four times a day – twice during daytime and twice during the night.

It will be controlled by the base station located at Gistda’s Space Inspirium in Si Racha.