COLORADO SPRINGS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2023) Thailand is very concerned that Southeast Asia resembles a hole in the globe in terms of not having space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities or space traffic management (STM) in place, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand Deputy Director Wiphu Rujopakarn told Sputnik.
"Because Southeast Asia is like a big hole in the globe that has effectively little or none in terms of SSA or STM. We're very concerned," he said. "SSA is an area that we are very concerned. At our institute, we developed our in-house optical and radio sensors. By doing that, we lower the cost by an order of magnitude compared to the importation from the West... as a result, it increases the scalability of the SSA capability in the region."
Rujopakarn said this is almost non-existent in Southeast Asia and scientists are trying to ramp up such capacity.
Rujopakarn noted that Thailand does not have a launch capability and operates at the level of prevention and avoidance.
"SSA is something we can do right now," he said. "But of course, we're open to partnering with other nations in order to increase the capability, especially the launch capability."
Rujopakarn spoke with Sputnik on the margins of the annual 38th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
