Singapore Technologies Engineering successfully launches satellite to help monitor natural disasters, climate change

SINGAPORE: ST Engineering successfully launched yesterday (22 Apr) its first polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) satellite, TeLEOS-2, pushing the frontiers in developing space technology in Singapore.

TeLEOS-2 was successfully launched at 4.50 pm (Singapore time) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, India. The 750kg satellite will offer customers enhanced commercial satellite imagery solutions worldwide, unlocking multiple possibilities for commercial applications, including hotspot monitoring, oil spill detection, and air and maritime search and rescue operations.

Developed in partnership with Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency on behalf of the Government of Singapore, TeLEOS-2 boasts a made-in-Singapore SAR payload and can capture day and night images under all-weather conditions in high resolutions, with full polarimetry for a wider range of satellite data applications.

This will enhance ST Engineering’s commercial satellite imagery solutions, providing multi-modal and high-responsiveness features to its customers.

TeLEOS-2 will operate in near-equatorial orbit (NEqO) at 10 degrees inclination, offering 1m high-resolution imagery with an average of 14 passes a day. This provides enhanced and wider coverage of major shipping routes and disaster-prone, forest-fire regions.

The satellite will offer numerous opportunities for customers in applications such as disaster monitoring and management, environmental monitoring, natural resource exploration and management, climate change, and weather studies.

The PolSAR payload enables the satellite to penetrate clouds and precipitation and capture day and night images under all weather conditions. This also allows for improved monitoring, mapping, quantification, and multiparameter details of different surfaces.

ST Engineering’s President of Digital Systems, Low Jin Phang, said: “The development and launch of TeLEOS-2 represent another milestone in our journey in building up indigenous capabilities for the expansion and commercialisation of our satellite technologies. It will further propel the growth of Singapore’s space industry and strengthen ST Engineering’s position in the global space market.”

He added, “We continue to deepen our capabilities and expand our service offerings for key commercial applications including maritime, agriculture, environment and disaster monitoring and management.”