Malaysia seeks place in space

Malaysia's location makes it prime launch territory

Malaysia is hoping to become the latest country to develop its own space launch capability.

According to a report in the English-language New Straits Times newspaper, the project will be undertaken in co-operation with Japan's National Space Development Agency (Nasda).

The remote jungles of East Malaysia would play host to the space base

A working paper on the proposed Malaysian space agency is due to be presented to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's cabinet next month.

Malaysia's Science Minister, Datuk Law Hieng Ding, said co-operation with Japanese space officials would cover areas including satellite and rocket construction as well as the development of a Malaysian space port.

The minister said a site in East Malaysia has already been identified as a possible location for the launch facility, but he refused to give details.

The sparsely populated East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak lie on the island of Borneo, just a few degrees north of the equator. Locating a launch site so near to the equator enables rockets to gain an extra boost from the Earth's rotation, helping to sling them into space and allowing them to carry heavier loads.

The European Space Agency's launch site at Kourou in French Guiana benefits from similar conditions.

Technology transfer

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Mr Law said co-operation with Japan on developing Malaysia's space programme would involve a considerable amount of technology transfer.

"We are new in this area and we do not have many scientists, so we need to pool resources," he said.

He added that whilst the project was ambitious it was not an impossible task, with Malaysia having already gained experience in space research through the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing and the National Space Science Division.

Bearing that in mind, Mr Law said, Malaysia could hope to develop its own launch system in a relatively short period of time.

Space mishaps

Japan's space agency was established in 1969 and launched its first rocket 12 years later.

Japan's space industry has suffered from a series of launch failures

However, since then it has been plagued by a series of mishaps and launch disasters, most of which have been blamed on poorly manufactured components.

In the past two years alone, three satellite launches have failed with engineers forced to destroy one rocket shortly after take-off.

Last November, failure in the first-stage engine of an H-2 rocket led to it being remotely destroyed just four minutes into its flight.

The H-2 had been seen as the focal point for Japan's ambitions to enter the commercial launch market, but with a poor reliability record that is now unlikely.

Such high profile failures have led to cuts in funding for the Japanese space agency and questions being raised in parliament about the future of the country's launch programme.

Faced with criticism for developing launch vehicles that cost twice as much as American or European rockets, the space agency has been under heavy pressure to streamline its operations.

Prestige projects

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Longterm goals for the projected Malaysian space agency are unclear, although plans for an indigenous rocket would likely prove extremely popular with the government.

Malaysia has a long history of enthusiasm for big, prestigious projects and co-operated closely with Japan in the creation of its national car project, the Proton.

Prime Minister Mahathir frequently trumpets such achievements as signs of Malaysia's progress towards developed nation status.

Critics, however, have accused the government of lavishing resources on such projects whilst ignoring potentially serious, but less glamorous, underlying weaknesses in the Malaysian economy.