The manifest for a 3D-printed rocket soon to be blasting off from the Space Coast continues to grow with the announcement that a Thailand-based space company has selected the rocket designed by a US-based aerospace manufacturer company to launch its satellite.
Based in California, the aerospace manufacturer has patented 3D printing to build its rocket in less than 60 days, cutting down hardware parts and costs to launch. The company’s rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station’s Launch Complex 16, beginning at the end of 2020, company leaders say.
In April 2019, the aerospace start-up aiming to disrupt the way rockets are built, it announced its official launch contract with the Canadian satellite operator. Moreover, an Asian space technology company announced it also will fly a satellite on Terran 1.
The Asian space tech firm is developing both Low Earth Orbit and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites to fuel smart cities through the company’s Internet of Things devices. The company also makes a wearable tech, including a 360-degree security camera that could be worn by law enforcement officers, active duty military and security.
The Asian space tech firm’s satellite, launching sometime in 2022, will support space situational awareness of in-orbit debris, and the company’s broader Internet of Things (IoT) strategy.
Like the Thailand-based space company, the space tech firm’s leaders have interplanetary goals. Company officials have said they want to colonize the moon with 100 people in the next 10 years.
In January 2019, the Asian space tech company announced it plans to participate in the Moon Race, a global competition designed to develop technology for sustainable lunar explorations. The CEO and founder of the company want to land a spacecraft on the moon by 2028.
The company is accelerating space technology development in Asia, and the firm considers the moon as the next explorable body in space beyond Earth.
The Thai space tech firm has the vision, team, and technology to deliver exceptional advantages in launching mu Space’s payloads, and supporting our goal of creating an interplanetary society in the future, the CEO noted.
The satellite will launch from Cape Canaveral in 2022 as the primary payload into Low Earth Orbit.
In November 2018 Swedish space firm announced the opening of a ground station in Thailand. The Swedish firm officially opened a multi-mission ground station in Sri Racha, Thailand.
The station was established at the Space Krenovation Park (SKP), a science park developed by Thailand’s space agency GISTDA in order to develop the nation’s space industry.
The SKP station hosts a 7.3-meter antenna system with capabilities for Telemetry Tracking & Command (TT&C) and data downlink services, supporting S-Band (uplink and downlink) and X-Band (downlink), with the option to add Ka-Band in the future.
According to GISTDA, this is Thailand’s largest space-based business partnership, and, at THB 80 million, is the biggest foreign investment into the nation’s space industry. SSC and GISTDA have been collaborating since 2015, with GISTDA using Swedish satellites and other SSC products, mainly for the purposes of navigation and positioning.
President of Satellite Management Services of the Swedish firm stated that the establishment in Sri Racha is an important step for the firm and its partner, helping it to meet the global space development.
The GISTDA Director stated that the established of the ground station demonstrates the confidence of the Swedish government and the firm in Thailand’s space policy and the potential in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) area in the hope that the EEC area will be an important base for expanding advanced technology in the aerospace industry.
It will also be a hub for connecting with the regional space industry, such as with China, India, Japan, and South Korea, as well as help push Thailand up the global value chain in space.
