Angkasa-X hopes space tech ecosystem will take root in Penang
NIBONG TEBAL: Angkasa-X Holdings Corp hopes an ecosystem for space technology will be established in Penang once its RM30 million Earth Station Farm and state-of-theart Space Technology Centre are completed by the end of this year.
Executive chairman/CEO Dr Sean Seah said the Earth Station Farm will function as the receiving ground for the satellites it plans to launch next year whereas the Space Technology Centre will be used for research and development (R&D) for solution technology, as well as assembly, integration and testing of low-earth-orbit satellites.
“The satellite that we build and launch is the upstream component, whereas the downstream component is the ground station and application development,” he told a press conference after the project’s groundbreaking ceremony here yesterday.
Seah said possible applications using satellite data include control air quality control, ship-tracking, flood and disaster management.
He said Angkasa-X is also looking to collaborate with “space-worthy” Penangbased companies to supply components to be used in its satellites.
“We aim to launch two constellation of satellites. The first is for remote sensing that we target to launch in two to four years. We are also launching our communication satellites from 2024 to the next 10 years,” he added.
The two facilities will be built within the grounds of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) engineering campus where the university has set aside 0.81 hectares.
USM vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan said the centre will also provide basic facilities for students and professionals to gain “hands-on” experience in satellite R&D. “The cooperation between these two parties would also allow the development of the ‘first-of-its-kind’ professional engineering courses in Asia to be offered to USM postgraduate candidates.”