Thai aerospace entrepreneur committed to helping fight climate change
“We do want to search for alternative resources in space as well as build sustainability awareness on natural resources to help preserve nature for our next generations, as doing business is not our only objective”, said Varayuth Yenbamroong, the founder and CEO of mu Space.
Founded in 2017 by Varayuth, who previously worked as a satellite systems engineer in the US, mu Space and Advance Technology Co Ltd aims to manufacture small satellites.
The company organised its annual event, “Techday 2022”, on November 9, under the theme – “Connecting you to space” at mu Space’s factory. The firm announced its strategic plans for the current and upcoming years to business partners, shareholders and customers.
Varayuth said that as the global population recently hit 8 billion, it has become necessary to look for new resources and raise awareness about the sustainability issue.
“In 2017, we saw the depletion of natural resources due to the soaring population. If our resources are not sustainable, they will affect humanity. Hence, we need to search for alternatives from outer space, such as from the moon, as is stated in our 10-year plan,” he added.
To accomplish its goals, mu Space Corp has also put the focus on new industries such, as satellite components, battery, and chip manufacturing.
“The traditional satellite production requires a longer supply chain and cannot maximise energy used in a satellite, so we would like to use our technology to magnify the energy system in a satellite,” said Varayuth.
The highlights of mu Space Corp products developed in 2022 are Satellite B-200 and B-500. Satellite B-200 is priced at US$4 million, and B-500 has not yet reached commercial operation.
Mu Space has also invented space technologies, such as remote-sensing to monitor greenhouse gases and manage the impact of climate change as well as to build a commercial space supply chain prioritising local manufacturing.
The company has also joined hands with many other private and public organisations, such as UK SSTL, Gistda, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS’s Asia Pacific regional account manager Laurent Tran Dien said that “Now, there are more and more satellites being launched, and more data coming from space. There are more missions to the moon and Mars. More and more companies are building infrastructure, so we help customers bring solutions on cloud [technology] to rethink, reinvent, simplify, and scale up businesses quickly through cloud [technology] adoption.”
Abdul Satar Adila, AWS’s business lead for Asean, added that AWS aligns with Thailand's 4.0 economic model, “as we support the drive of technology and creativity”. AWS has invested around $5 million as it wants to bring the cloud to all Thais.
The company currently operates three industrial factories. All their production systems focus on sustainability, such as using alternative energy sources, having recycling processes, and reducing carbon dixie emissions.
Around 50-100 participants were attending “Techday 2022”, most of them professionals in the space industry.
