MALAYSIA CAN BECOME GLOBAL PLAYER IN SPACE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES

By R.Ravichandran

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia which is a small player in the
space industry can become a global player in space-based technologies through
innovation by setting up data processing centres, said Dr Harold J. Raveche,
president of the privately-run United States-based Stevens Institute of
Technology.

He said this was possible by Malaysia venturing into making arrangements to
buy data, information and images from space players having satellites like the
United States, Russia, China, European Union countries and others and establish
data processing centres in this country to process these materials which could
then be sold to other countries.

Dr Raveche said that despite satellites also being used for sensitive
purposes such as for defence and security, there was also much non-sensitive
data collected, which could be bought through proper arrangements and
reprocessed using innovation for sale to other countries.

"There is no need for Malaysia to spend huge sums of money for space
technologies...through innovation, Malaysia can process and develop data for
multiple uses namely humanitarian, civil and commercial applications," he told
Bernama in an interview here Tuesday.

Stevens Institute of Technology, which houses two US national research
centres of excellence, was ranked number three in the US for returns on
investments from campus research last year, by Forbes.

Dr Raveche said that the data processed could be useful for many purposes
depending on the needs of the countries, like early warning for tsunamis and
earthquakes, forest fire early detection and location, cargo ships course
adjustments due to changes in weather and piracy threats as well for fuel
conservation.

Also for ports and airports management and security, water
distribution, vegetation distribution in arid regions and environmental related
things such as weather forecasts, said the innovation and capacity building
expert who is here at the invitation of University Kebangsaan Malaysia, which
partners his institute in research projects.

"Satellites are a source for data and information...you need to change that
data to something you can act upon and use. So you have to use innovative way to
process the data. It is about converting information from the data to knowledge
through innovation," he said.

He said the processing centres of the data collected from the satellites was
more to do with the people rather than hardware because it needed experts in
areas like cyber security, computer science, data application, data compression,
data mining and cryptology.

He said if Malaysia was bold enough to go forward in establish processing
centres and develop the necessary humanitarian, civil and commercial
applications, the country would gain world reputation and move close to becoming
a high-tech nation like South Korea and Taiwan.

He said space provides the "eyes and ears" for defense and security such as
reconnaissance, communications and navigation and currently there were over 550
operational spacecraft providing huge amounts of data and information, with the
US being the main player.

According to Dr Raveche, the private sector could take the lead in setting
up processing centres with the necessary backing and support from the government
which was now pushing the national innovation agenda.

"There are great opportunities to leverage data, information and
capabilities for innovative applications leading to enterprise development and
government programes that benefit the global society as a whole," he said.

Currently there are 29 players in space. In the context of Malaysia, as
a very small player, it has the RazakSAT satellite, launched last year which is
the country's second remote sensing satellite after TiungSAT-1.
-- BERNAMA