Phuket university partners with China’s National Space Science Center

PHUKET: Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket campus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s National Space Science Center (NSSC) on Tuesday to solidify an agreement for further collaboration between the two organizations.

The NSSC is an agency under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) that is responsible for planning, developing, launching and operating China’s space science satellite missions.

The purpose of the MoU is to establish a framework within which the institutions may collaborate and share resources; conduct joint research projects and joint seminars; sponsor short-term staff and student exchange programs and training programs; host visiting scholars; and co-supervise students’ theses.

“I am glad to see these two organizations form an international partnership focusing on space science and technology research, which will help further our knowledge of Earth and increase our ability to forecast and warn of potential natural disasters,” Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong said at the signing ceremony.

“We will work together to advance this type of technology and research strategies for solving the world’s environmental problems. At the same time, we hope that this partnership improves relationships and friendships between our countries.”

Chinnawat Surussavadee, director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Earth System Science and Andaman Natural Disaster Management (ESSAND) at PSU, explained that the university would be helping the NSSC to develop software and computer models for China’s space satellites that are being used to collect information about the weather.

“PSU has ESSAND, which will support this new program, so we will not establish a formal center as of yet,” Dr Chinnawat noted.

— Voratuss Intasee