Interest Among Youths Vital For Malaysia's Aerospace Future - Japanese Professor

MELAKA (Malaysia), July 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysian youths' interest in space study is vital if the country aims to become a major player in the aerospace industry, said and academician, Prof Dr Yoshihide Yamada. The professor from the National Defence Academy of Japan, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said it was critical for Malaysia to start empowering its youths with knowledge on space technology such as space communication and rocket science to achieve this goal. "Malaysia made a great leap forward when its first cosmonaut (Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha) launched into space back in 2007 and all of a sudden so many youths wanted to be like him. "This is the catalyst we want in youths. What Malaysia should do now is to equip these youths craving for space technology knowledge in order to produce aerospace experts," the space communication expert told Bernama recently. Yamada was interviewed on the sidelines of the International Conference on Space Science and Communication held by the Institute of Aerospace, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Malaysian Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers here. Orthopedic surgeon Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was the first Malaysian to go into space when he boarded the Soyuz TMA-11 with two other cosmonauts on Oct 10, 2007. He spent 11 days in space and performed experiments on board the International Space Station on the characteristics and growth of liver cancer and leukemia cells, and the crystallisation of various proteins and microbes. Yamada was one of the four keynote speakers at the conference and delivered a speech titled 'reflector antenna technologies for space science and communications'. He was of the opinion that this technology would help Malaysia develop better satellites. "Satellite projects such as MEASAT, TiungSAT and RazakSAT can benefit from this technology. But I must say the RazakSAT project is the best fit for this technology due to the radio telescope technology used in that satellite," he said. Yamada further remarked that he would be honoured to share his expertise and technology with Malaysia. "Malaysia and Japan have a great history together and have been friends for a long time. So it will be a great honour for me to help a good old friend. We can explore the outer space together," he said. -- BERNAMA