The Future Issues and Technology (FIT) cluster hosted a webinar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and space technologies on 5 December 2024 titled “When AI and Space Converge: Transforming the Future of Sustainability on Earth and Space”. The webinar brought together academics, policymakers, and industry leaders across Singapore, offering insights from a recent RSIS policy report which explored the progress, challenges, and opportunities in the country’s efforts toward AI-driven space innovation.
Dr Karryl Kim Sagun Trajano, Research Fellow at FIT, emphasised the uniqueness of Singapore as a small, non-major space superpower, making it an important case study for its implications in the Southeast Asian region. The country already has a thriving AI sector, which makes integrating AI into space technologies more feasible. Dr Trajano further explained how Singapore has mechanisms in place to coordinate public, private, and academic space activities, with some synergy among key sectors. She argued that AI has yet to reach its maximum potential in space, and that Singapore has the potential to be one of the regional frontrunners if it can maintain its momentum.
Meanwhile, Dr Iuna Tsyrulneva, Research Fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), stressed the importance of integrating AI in space because human analysts alone are inadequate to handle the sheer amount of data involved in space-based activities. She outlined several real-world applications for the technology, including specialised data collection and processing, remote sensing, satellite sustainability, space debris mitigation, and disaster management.
Today, Singapore faces challenges in integrating AI with space. Private space startups require sustained support from the public sector for AI development. Data and talent gaps within the relatively small domestic space industry must be addressed through greater multi-sectoral collaboration. At the same time, however, Dr Trajano points out that if Singapore wants to advance the space agenda, it cannot rely on spillover effects from its AI industry. To address these problems, the report pushes for the adoption of a National Space Strategy akin to that of other spacefaring countries, as well as local strategies on other emerging technologies in the country (such as AI and quantum). The goal is to consolidate key players and centralise their efforts to advance Singapore’s capacity to address global challenges like climate change through AI-assisted space technologies.
Read the Policy Report here:
https://www.rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/fit/ai-in-space-technologies-a-singapore-case-study/
