First Singapore-made commercial satellite to be launched next year

Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics) plans to put the first Singapore-made commercial satellite into orbit in the fourth quarter next year, the company said Thursday. The TeLEOS-1, built by ST Electronics, is now in the final stage of development, the company said. It will be launched by India's state-owned Antrix Corporation about some 550 kilometers above the earth. Once in orbit, the earth observation satellite will circle the equator and go round the earth 15 times a day to capture high- resolution images that can be sold commercially for use in operations such as disaster management, cleaning up oil spills and maritime security. ST Electronics did not disclose how much the satellite costs, but it was estimated to be over 100 million U.S. dollars for such satellites equipped with high-resolution cameras. ST Electronics said it will jointly develop, manufacture and sell microsatellites and integration services with New York-listed ATK. It has also signed partnerships to distribute the images, which the company said is expected to be commercially available in the first half of 2016. "We do expect that the space portion of the business would contribute in the years to come to the growth of the company," said Lee Fook Sun, president of ST Electronics. The Straits Times quoted S Iswaran, second minister for trade and industry, as saying at the Global Space Technology Convention on Thursday that Singapore has made "encouraging progress" in grooming its space industry since the establishment of the Office for Space Technology and Industry last year. Singapore is currently supporting 11 projects with a total budget of close to 12 million Singapore dollars (9.5 million U.S. dollars). To grow the space industry, the Singapore government set up a 90 million Singapore dollar (70.9 million U.S. dollars) Satellite Industry Development Fund in the 2013 budget. "The scope for growth is significant. As the local space industry develops, there will be opportunities for international companies to work with local players to co-develop satellite solutions and to access growth markets," Iswaran said.