Thailand successfully launched its first satellite in 15 years last week, an Earth observation device jointly designed by Thai and British engineers that will help in disaster prevention, natural resource monitoring and agriculture.

THEOS-2, the Kingdom’s second earth observation satellite, was propelled into orbit from the French Guiana Space Center last Monday, according to Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA).

In collaborating to design and engineer the new orbiter, Thailand has taken another significant step in its steady pursuit of advancing its aerospace and space technology sector. Aerospace is a priority sector for the Kingdom under its national strategy to achieve a higher level of technological and sustainable development.

The satellite, built by Surrey Satellite Technology in the United Kingdom, will take high-definition photographs of the Earth and provide precision geoinformatics. That information will aid Thailand in monitoring natural resources, provide data for smart agriculture and assist in natural disaster prevention and response.

“Both governmental and nongovernmental agencies, as well as educational institutes, will be allowed to access Theos-2 data and utilize it for commercial purposes," said Pakorn Apaphant, executive director of GISTDA.

The agency is also active in education programs intended to create a corps of young people with the right skills, ideas and knowledge to grow the country’s space and aerospace industries.

"GISTDA projects are long-term programs to create human resources and aerospace infrastructure for new industries that can optimize space technologies in the future," said Supamas Issarapakdi, minister of higher education, science, research and innovation.

"The young generation and young students should be inspired to join space technologies so that we will create our own space technologies to serve modern industries in the future," Supamas said.

Source: Royal Thai Embassy, Washington D.C.