space sector?

[ursaMinor]

hEy,

I have always wanted to ask if whether Singapore would invest in the space sector any soon. China has its Taikonaut and even Malaysia is already choosing its first cosmonaut now, would Singapore follow like-wise? All i know is Singapore is now trying to deveop itself now into a Biotechnology Hub and it seems the government would be spending tonnes in the next few decades on biotech. But anyway, I am sure every1 of us here would be extremely interested in being the first Singa-naut. hee hee

[Sam Lee]

That don't seem very possible, well, at least in Singapore. They already do not have enough resources, let alone starting to probe into another field, especially if it's one that is so costly.

If anyone wants to be a 'naut, you may have to look outside to other countries which have a more stable income.

But if that's really the case, i don't mind having the 'backseat' (Just gimme one with windows!).

Regards,
Sam

We are the Borg, Resistance is Futile.

[weixing]

Hi,
Malaysia really know how to bargain... inorder for russia to get the Fighter Jet sale, russia must send one of the Malaysian to space. But I think the Malaysian astronaut will be treated like a "tourist", so Malaysia had nothing to gain except the name.

Anyway, I think for us to go to space at our own is not practical, we just don't have the resources. So, the best way is through cooperation with other country. If goverment really pour a lots of resource into biotechnology, and one day as we becoming a leader in biotechnology (really hope so ). Then may be US or china will come knocking at our door to offer an cooperation. Why??? Because the most importance technology for manned spacecraft is the technology to support human, especially for long space mission, and that will fall into the biotechnology field.

Let's hope the day will come...

[Airconvent]

hEy,

I have always wanted to ask if whether Singapore would invest in the space sector any soon. China has its Taikonaut and even Malaysia is already choosing its first cosmonaut now, would Singapore follow like-wise? All i know is Singapore is now trying to deveop itself now into a Biotechnology Hub and it seems the government would be spending tonnes in the next few decades on biotech. But anyway, I am sure every1 of us here would be extremely interested in being the first Singa-naut. hee hee

Hi
not likely. a real space industry is extremely resource intensive and above all, risky. look at all the failed launches over the past few years...

rich

[ursaMinor]

heh, i tink half of spore will sink if a failed rocket crashes back down

[zong]

I quite like the thought of singapore pouring money into the space industry. But I don't think it is possible unless one of us becomes Singapore's PM

The space industry is just too costly and takes up superbly lots of land. And we will have to destroy our infrastructure to make way for radio astronomy, cos there's just too much radiowaves flooding us now.. So I guess, maybe the only way would be to cooperate with US or China when we (hopefully) become a leader in biotechnology 8)

[addy]

Space industry is not just resource hungry, its a very lucrative business as well.. Look at the European Space Agency Arian and Russians who undertake missions to launch commercial sattelites as well.. The first step to get into Space missions is have your own indigenous rocket launching system.. You need to pour in billions of dollars and man-hours to master the ballistics and cryogenics behind sending the rockets into space.. Given the resources, Singapore is not suited for such an endeavour.. But hopefully their investments into Biotechnology will pay off..

They could also share the developments in Chinese and Indian Space technology if they really want to send their own satellites and singa-nauts up..

[hlyf]

yeah considering the latest development in China's space industry, and also their relative proximity to us, sharing in their development would be a viable option since we're already sharing development in other areas like building industrial parks and all..

btw, since quite a few of us here are students, i was wondering what kind of courses we could take up if we're interested to go into the space "business" in future.. do local unis have such stuff as space science or engineering..? or prob have to go overseas..

[ursaMinor]

I tink is mostly engineering lor. But space science diverges into alot also. Like...astrophysics...aeronautical engineering..astrobiology which is very undeveloped now...and astrochemistry....but I dun tink a degree in astronomy or something related to that would be useful in singapore...you probably have a hard time finding a job that applies all you learnt into it in the near future.
But I wanna take up Engineering and work up slowly, in future, when new options such as space tourism opens up (hopefully), those with related training disicipline would den be highly valued. But spore cant implement a space programme on its own, it simply does not have the funds. Maybe like some of you suggested, spore would join other countries in its space programme. And I personally feel that those countries who have conquered space, they would be the dominant ruler in technology. Like a website say, spore cant improve much by having success occassionally making new sound cards and separating siamese twins. Its just a quote from talkingcock.com la.