The city-state joins a group of small nations with national space agencies, showing that size doesn’t matter in an industry projected to reach $1.8 trillion within a decade.
The National Space Agency of Singapore (NSAS) will formally start work on April 1st. It will answer to the Ministry of Trade and Industry in its mission to lead Singapore’s national space ambitions.
The government said it wants NSAS to be “a leader in space technologies and a credible contributor to the global space ecosystem.” The agency will work to attract companies from around the world to set up in the city, as well as create rules and legislation.
Singapore is already home to around 70 space companies specializing in areas such as satellite-based services and space component design and manufacturing. The sector employs around 2,000 people in the city.
The city-state also has partnerships with the European Space Agency (ESA), India’s National Space Promotions and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the UAE Space Agency, and Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.
NSAS will assume and build upon the functions currently carried out by the Office of Space Technology and Industry (OSTIin), which described the transformation as “a new chapter for Singapore’s space ambitions.”
By establishing a national space agency, Singapore positions itself to benefit from the global space economy that is projected to be valued at $1.8 trillion by 2035, up from $630 billion in 2023, according to the World Economic Forum.
Several other small nations have established their own national space agencies in recent years, seeking to capitalize on a rapid growth of the space economy. These include New Zealand in 2016, Luxembourg in 2018, Rwanda in 2020, and Qatar in 2021, among others.
A number of small European nations, including both those with and without national space agencies, also pool their resources through ESA, one of the world’s leading space organizations.
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