MALAYSIA has a great potential in building its own space industry.
That's what National Tech Association of Malaysia (Pikom) chairman Dr Sean Seah said during the launch of the SpaceTech Initiative recently. He highlighted that the country has been seeing pockets of interest in SpaceTech over the past couple of years.
"And so, why are we not collaborating and developing the ecosystem together? I believe it is time for us to be unified, invite all the like-minded SpaceTech players in the country and across the world, to come and take part in this mutual goal," he said.
Malaysia has been at the forefront of space technology since the early 2000s with the setting up of specialised agencies to spearhead the nascent industry then.
That has enabled Malaysia to develop technical expertise and talent for the SpaceTech ecosystem development. With the boom in private SpaceTech in recent years, this will stand Malaysia in good stead for the next phase of growth.
GROWING SPACE TECH LANDSCAPE
The SpaceTech landscape has transformed from a single proprietary system to integrated multi-component systems. Much like the system integration in Information Technology (IT), machine learning, software and robotics are now frontier technologies in the SpaceTech landscape. The same goes for communications technology, cloud technology, navigation and mapping that are supported by industries such as financial, consulting, training, research and education and human resources. The IT applications of space technology are wide ranging, including Internet connectivity, Internet of Things, navigational tracking, disaster management, resource management, governance, meteorology, defence and security.
INDUSTRY GROWTH
The global SpaceTech economy is forecasted to grow to US$10 trillion by 2030 from US$380 billion in 2020. The space-related investment funding for Asia-Pacific, at US$41.7 billion, is ranked second after Northern America and is gaining momentum.
The rising private sector interest makes the SpaceTech industry an extremely prospective and lucrative sector for investors. The rapid development of space exploration technologies attracts countless investors from the whole world.
MALAYSIA IN SPACE INDUSTRY
Malaysia has been involved in SpaceTech since the launching of satellites MeaSAT 1 and MeaSAT 2 (1996), TiungSAT-1 (2000), MeaSAT 3 (2006) and RazakSAT (2009). RazakSAT is a "Designed in Malaysia" Earth-Observation Low-Earth-Orbit satellite that was launched into near-equatorial orbit in 2009 by SpaceX's Falcon-1 rocket.
"At the same time, with the estimated growth potential of US$10 trillion by 2030, the ecosystem players can converge and collaborate with space-related players. The industry needs all parties to work together to build the SpaceTech ecosystem in Malaysia," said Seah.
Malaysia is an active member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and has been championing equitable access on satellite orbit rights through public and private sector participation. Pikom has three members — AngkasaX, Celcom and MeaSAT — that have been admitted as "ITU-R member" of the ITU and possess the eligibility to apply and secure orbital slots and radio spectrum to launch their satellites. ITU is a specialised agency of the United Nations that manages space telecommunications.
Pikom believes that it should drive the SpaceTech development as the association has over 1,000 corporate members with the capability, technology and talent to work with the industry, government and academia.
The launch of the SpaceTech Initiative was attended by representatives from the Malaysia Space Agency, Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, universities (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Putra Malaysia) and dozens of tech companies involved in space technology and satellite communications.
The strategic directions and programmes of the initiative will be aligned with the pillars of the National Space Policy 2030 to contribute at least RM3.2 billion or 0.3 per cent to the gross domestic product by 2030 and is expected to create 5,000 jobs.
"Pikom will become the central voice of the SpaceTech industry, based on its expertise in the technology sectors and system integration expertise, which are the backbones of SpaceTech and satellite engineering.
"Our members are very excited to see the potential collaboration and see through this growth for Malaysia," said Seah.