Roadmap for space tech development

Pornchai said yesterday that his ministry would team up with the Defence, Education, Science and Technology, and Agricultural and Cooperatives ministries to draw up the plan. 

More details of the roadmap will be made available in the next three weeks, he said.

 In October, the ministry assigned its space affairs committee to conduct a feasibility study on the ministry’s plan to launch a national satellite to provide ICT services to the public, as part of its plan to support the government’s promotion of the digital economy. Pornchai instructed the committee to complete the study within six months. 

If the project gets off the ground, the ministry will cooperate with the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency of the Science and Technology Ministry to operate the satellite.

He said that though it might take 10 years before Thailand could build its own satellite, the country had to start making the move now to develop its space technology. 

The potential of Thais working in space technology will also be upgraded to help the country achieve the goal, he said, adding that the Kingdom needed to lay the foundations in this area to enhance its competitive edge.

“We [the government and private sector] spend a massive amount on foreign satellite technologies every year. We need to build the technology on our own to move us up to the same league as foreign countries in the field,” said the minister. Meanwhile, the ICT Ministry is in the process of being transformed into the Digital for Economy and Society Ministry. 

The Cabinet recently approved a draft law setting up a national digital economy committee, and another for restructuring the ICT Ministry.

The first of these draft laws determines the creation of a national committee to be chaired by the prime minister, with the deputy PM in charge of the economy acting as vice chairman. 

 Its role is to coordinate the implementation of digital-economy policies between the government and state agencies. 

The second determines the renaming and restructuring of the ministry as the Digital for Economy and Society Ministry, which will oversee five offices: the ministry’s office, the permanent secretary’s office, the digital-economy office, the Meteorology Office, and the Office of National Statistics.