Singapore may be known as the Little Red Dot, but its ambitions are astronomical. In this episode, we explore how this tiny island nation is becoming an unexpected player in the space industry, with homegrown spacetech companies reaching for the stars. We chat with Dr. Christopher Luwanga, the CEO and founder of Galamad Aerospace, a space start-up based in Singapore. We discuss his journey growing up in Malawi to completing his engineering PhD at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Along the way, Christopher talks about the awe-inspiring vastness of the universe, the importance of reuseable satellites, and his vision of the future of space exploration.

Episode Highlights

• Discover how Dr. Christopher Luwanga went from reading Shakespeare at age 9 in Malawi to founding a spacetech company in Singapore
• Learn about PROSat, Galamad Aerospace’s programmable and reusable satellite that could be part of the expected 50,000 satellites orbiting Earth in the near future
• Find out why Singapore, despite its small geographical size, is an ideal base for space start-ups
• Explore the challenges of implementing AI systems in satellites, including creating synthetic space environments for training
• Hear first-hand about fascinating developments in the space industry, such as the fact that since 2019, more satellites have been launched than in the entire period from the 1950s to 2019 combined!
• Get mind-blowing insights into the sheer scale of the universe: when you look at the sun, you're seeing the sun as it was roughly 8 minutes ago due to the time it takes light to travel!

Timestamps

00:00 Preview

00:27 Intro

01:31 Growing up in Malawi and early interest in literature

04:18 From Shakespeare to space: realising the immense scale of the universe

07:11 Founding Galamad Aerospace

09:28 Why Singapore is an ideal base for Galamad Aerospace

10:45 PROSat, Galamad Aerospace’s spacecraft, and the state of current satellites

14:24 How do satellites avoid hitting each other?

16:36 Implementing AI systems with satellites

20:07 Managing operations across Asia and Africa

21:31 Creating opportunities in Africa

23:37 [Mid-roll Ad] Space Explorers: THE INFINITE at Science Centre Singapore

24:25 Paiseh question: Does Singapore have astronauts?

26:19 Advice to Singaporeans interested in the space industry

27:32 Word Association Game

33:10 Outro

Guest Bio: Dr. Christopher Luwanga is a space engineer and physicist based in Singapore, and originally from Malawi, Africa. As founder of Galamad Aerospace, he is leading a team of designers, engineers, and builders of spacecraft for the new age of consumer applications that are built around space technologies. One of the most exciting applications is that of broadband connectivity from and via outer space. This extension into space not only creates a powerful, resilient complement to our existing terrestrial network infrastructure but in some places is the only practical means to connect people to the internet. Galamad Aerospace is also specifically developing the PROSat, a programmable, reuseable, and highly manoeuvrable spacecraft that will ultimately enable smart constellations that do not unnecessarily crowd or pollute the space environment.

Read the full transcript & show notes at https://voiddeck.science.edu.sg/exploring-spacetech/