U-tapao getting satellites

U-tapao getting satellites

U-tapao passenger terminal (Bangkok Post photo)
U-tapao passenger terminal (Bangkok Post photo)

The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda), the state space organisation, plans to team up with France's Airbus to bring satellite technology to U-tapao airport and make it the airfreight hub of Southeast Asia.

Kanit Sangsubhan, secretary-general of Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office, said Gistda and Airbus plan to create phase two of the Thailand Earth Observation Satellite (TEOS) with an investment of 7.8 billion baht.

"The government aims to use TEOS as the second satellite to explore more resources and create big data for the country, including the much-touted EEC project," he said. "We expect TEOS will create more added value to EEC locations that can apply collected data to analyse flood areas, water and power supplies."

The first TEOS is called Thaichote, which was successfully launched by Dnepr from Yasny, Russia, in October 2008.

Anond Snidvongs, Gistda's executive director, said the agency has a platform called the actionable intelligence policy platform (AIP) to develop this TEOS project and it plans to collect the mapping data from two locations, the EEC and Nan province.

Separately, Airbus and Thai Airways have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop aviation in U-tapao airport, including maintenance, repair and overhaul project.

Thai government has a policy to develop the U-tapao airport to serve the growing passenger and commercial sector in the EEC locations, where the new airport will be developed for high technology and innovation.

The EEC Office expects aircraft volume over next 20 years to reach 40,000 aircraft, 20,000 of which will be from Asia.

Thailand has two main international airports, Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, which together have a capacity 17 million people per year.

Combined with the new U-tapao airport, three airports can serve up to 60 million people in the near future.

U-tapao airport, with an investment of 160 billion baht, launched the terms of reference (ToR) in February, expecting to sign a contract in December this year. The project is expected to start operations in 2023.

Mr Kanit said the government will accelerate five infrastructure projects in the EEC locations, including the high-speed railways linking the three main airports worth 111.9 billion baht.

The government opened the ToR and companies submitted proposals in February.

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