A chat with Mu Space’s chief rocket booster
His childhood fascination with the moon and stars led Varayuth Yenbamroong to a fitting career. And when the chance arose to strike a deal with Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos, he was ready.
Apassion to be the first in Asia to take people to space and an ambition to create a new wave of satellites has put Varayuth Yenbamroong, founder of Mu Space Corp, in the aerospace spotlight. In early 2018, Mu Space, Thailand’s first space technology startup, acquired a satellite licence. It plans to expand service nationwide and into neighbouring countries, particularly Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Mu Space plans to launch its own satellite in 2020 using Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle, as it seeks to lead in space technology development and encourage new space investment in Asia-Pacific.
In September 2017, Mu Space became US-based Blue Origin’s first Asian customer by signing a partnership agreement to launch its first geostationary satellite aboard the latter’s New Glenn orbital rocket.
In July 2018, Blue Origin, an aerospace firm set up by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, successfully launched the New Shepard space vehicle, with Mu Space’s payload, the first from Asia, onboard. The six-kilogramme payload contained experiments from several universities and space agencies in Thailand.
Tell us about your early life and educational background.
I’m Thai. I did my primary education in Thailand, then in New Zealand for secondary school.
When I was young, I was already fascinated with the moon and the constellations you see when you look at the sky at night. That definitely fuelled my decision to take a degree in aerospace engineering later in college, at the University of California, Los Angeles.
What inspired your interest in space and satellites?
After university, I worked at Northrop Grumman as a project lead for unmanned vehicle systems. There, I was involved in technical and budget planning, as well as systems production and analysis.
From my work, I gained better understanding about the uses of satellites. I found that satellites are not only used for communications, but for other things that many people are not aware of — for example, environmental monitoring and search-and-rescue operations.
My previous work, together with my passion for space technology, really influenced me to start my own company, Mu Space. I have the inner passion of using technology to improve the quality of life.
Founding Mu Space gave me an opportunity to prove that passion. I believe that satellite applications are beneficial to people, particularly in remote areas. Satellites, for example, can be used to deliver distance learning to students in rural schools or e-health services in remote community clinics.
What have you learned, and how does it feel to be working with global tech icons?
Despite being a new company, I’m proud of being able to seal a partnership deal early with Blue Origin. Not many young startups can strike a deal with global tech companies. Our partnership with Blue Origin demonstrates other companies’ deep trust in Mu Space’s mission and work.
I also hope the historic deal will bring goodwill to Thailand, and further attract new investors, startups and foreign workers to the country.
What’s your management style as the leader of a space tech startup?
Like other companies that started from scratch, founding a startup takes guts, determination and a lot of financial and moral support. It’s both exciting and hard.
I’m lucky that my team is motivated and driven to make Mu Space a success. We work together towards a common goal and celebrate small victories along the way. We acknowledge that mistakes can happen at work, and we are open to learning from them.
At Mu Space, people are our primary assets. They represent the company’s knowledge base. I believe that when we take care of our people, they are able to maximise their performance, and then the company is more likely to generate great results. While company assets depreciate, people investments appreciate.
What are the challenges in space tech business?
First, the commercialisation of space technology takes time and it’s capital-intensive. It is vital to have a supportive environment for space technology startups to succeed.
To make Thailand the premier destination for digital innovation in Southeast Asia, our policies need to be updated and we must improve our digital infrastructure. By doing that, it’s easier to attract investors, new startups and a technology workforce from overseas.
Second, space technology, for many people, is hard to understand. Many people have limited knowledge about the benefits of space technology to everyday life.
We want to change that perception and show that space is an important topic. To promote better public understanding about space, we’re building a research lab in Bangkok to test the space products we’re developing and showcase them to people. These products will include space suits, gloves and gadgets.
As the first startup in space tech, how do you see business opportunities in Thailand?
Space technology will be a big market in the future. It was predicted that the space industry worldwide will be worth US$2.7 trillion in the next 30 years.
According to market forecasts, this growth will driven mainly by satellite companies and new space technology players, mostly based in Europe or the Americas.
I’m optimistic that Asia in the 21st century will achieve more global “firsts”, but we have to do more to catch up with the competition. That’s why I established Mu Space; we’re taking our initial step to join the space race.
Space technology is still an untapped market in Asia-Pacific, and we want Thailand to step up. We’re not aware of any other private company in Asia-Pacific that has successfully launched a space travel service for private citizens or that is really focused on the research and development of space technology.
It might be because space technology, for many business people, is a funding-intensive market. And that’s how Mu Space is going to position itself in the market. We want to make Thailand the main hub in Asia-Pacific for space technology development and research.
Please share your company’s milestones and goals.
Mu Space Corp was formed in June 2017. We plan to offer three different services to people: satellite communications, a digital park, and space tourism and space technology development.
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
The company currently delivers reliable satellite-based broadband for telecoms and other businesses in Thailand. We also support the Thai government in its nationwide digital transformation efforts by bringing connectivity to rural areas and making smart cities more sustainable.
In the coming years, we plan to expand our business across Asia-Pacific. In 2020, the company will launch into space a high-throughput and low-latency geosynchronous orbit satellite to provide communication services across Asia-Pacific.
The satellite will provide the needed connectivity in remote areas. This is important because despite the increased availability of broadband in cities, many people living in rural areas are not reaching their full potential because they’re unable to access the technology.
I believe that communication satellites are beneficial to people, particularly in the rural areas. In Thailand, for example, the government has a 14-billion-baht project to connect 4,000 remote villages to broadband. Many of these villages, however, are so remote that they’re just beyond the reach of digital infrastructure.
So, communication satellites are an ideal solution to provide these villages and the people with broadband, which is essential to rural and social development.
DIGITAL PARK
True Digital Park will start operations in 2018. We will set up a laboratory there to develop and test products that we will use in our future space projects. It will also serve as a venue to showcase our work to the public to help them understand satellite and space technology, and its relevance to daily life.
Space technology, for many people, is a hard-to-understand topic. We want to change that; we want to change people’s perception and show that space is a fun topic.
To promote better public understanding about space, we’ll showcase our work and the products we’ll develop to the public in our lab at True Digital Park. These products could include space suits and other advanced gadgets.
SPACE TOURISM
One of Mu Space’s long-term goals is to venture into space tourism service delivery. Travelling to space is one of humanity’s greatest dreams in life. Most of the time, however, it’s only exclusive to astronauts. It was not until recently when private individuals were able to go to space.
In Asia, space tourism is still an untapped market, and we want to be the first in Asia to send private citizens to space.
Aside from sending humans to space, we are also looking to partner with an apparel manufacturing company that can make space suits and gloves for us.
Travelling to space can be dangerous because the temperature can be freezing cold and there is risk of exposure to radiation. Before sending space tourists, we have to develop advanced space gear and apparel that can ensure their safety up there.
I believe that satellite applications are beneficial to people, particularly in remote areas. VARAYUTH YENBAMROONG FOUNDER AND CEO, MU SPACE CORP