Heading off to space: ST Electronics to launch country’s first commercial satellite in 2015

The brand-new Satellite Systems Centre opened its doors yesterday.

The country is raising its stake in the booming space industry. ST Engineering yesterday launched the ST Electronics Satellite Systems Centre, a new state-of-the-art facility custom-built for the design and manufacturing of satellite systems.

ST Electronics has used the facility to successfully construct and test the Qualification Model for TeLEOS-1, which is the first commercial Remote Earth Observation Satellite wholly designed in Singapore. ST Electronics is currently constructing the Flight Model for TeLEOS-1 which will be launched into space in 2015.

The six-storey ST Electronics Satellite Systems Centre accommodates well equipped laboratories for development work on remote sensing satellites in the areas of satellite attitude control and determination, high-throughput satellite communications, advanced computing, intelligent power control and management system as well as ground station infrastructure. 

The booming space economy grew to over US$314billion last year. This reflects a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 6.5 per cent over the previous five years.

The launch was attended by Second Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran, who noted that there has been an increasing demand for small satellites within the satellite manufacturing space.

“By enabling the production of multiple small satellites concurrently, this Satellite Systems Centre will enhance ST Electronics’ capacity to meet this burgeoning demand. In addition, this centre will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for design, testing and simulation of satellite equipment. It will enable ST Electronics to develop new small satellite components and subsystems, to improve the performance of ST Electronics’ own satellites, or to be sold to other satellite manufacturers,” he noted.