Space Faculty is excited to announce that Singapore has secured the rights to host the prestigious World Robot Olympiad (WRO) International Finals in 2025.
As the national organiser of World Robot Olympiad in Singapore, Space Faculty believes that this event will be a testament to the nation’s unwavering commitment to promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education and fostering the growth of robotics and technology innovation on a global scale.
From a pool of 100,000 global participants, 500 teams of youth robotics champions from 100 countries will converge on Singapore in November 2025 to compete for the coveted title of WRO 2025 international champions.
The event is envisioned as a pivotal moment for facilitating global knowledge exchange to advance STEM 2.0 education through international competition. STEM 2.0 emphasises foundational principles while fostering 21st-century skills such as creativity, innovation, problem-solving, and collaboration.
Space Faculty CEO Ms Lynette Tan, shares her enthusiasm for the event.
“We are thrilled to host WRO 2025. This represents a significant milestone in our journey to promote STEM education and innovation in Singapore. We believe that our vibrant and dynamic city is the perfect setting to celebrate the spirit of creativity, teamwork, and technological excellence that WRO embodies.”
Join us at the Mars: The Red Mirror exhibition at the ArtScience Museum, a groundbreaking showcase where art meets science to offer new perspectives on Mars and Earth.
Catch a glimpse of our latest experiment exploring the potential of growing crops on Mars – a collaborative effort with A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine.
The experiment aims to test if plants can grow in soil similar to Mars’. We planted model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and common vegetable crop kailan (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra) in Earth soil and Mars simulant soil with added nutrients. This helps us understand whether terrestrial crops could survive on Mars and teaches us about Earth’s changing environment.
The exhibition runs until 7 April 2024 and was launched with the Humanity Reimagined – Mars Opening Symposium on 25 November 2023, which delves into Mars’ historical impact, its portrayal in art and culture, and its role in shaping a multiplanetary future.
Space Faculty CEO Lynette Tan was invited to speak at this symposium, where she highlighted how space is the starting point of inspiration, innovation and invention – the first stop for ideas, and not the last frontier. The programme also covered the exhibition’s adaptation, science fiction’s Mars portrayal, JAXA’s Martian Moons mission, initiatives like VMARS, research on Martian agriculture, and the inspirational aspect of space.
Explore this exhibit and more at Mars: The Red Mirror, an experience that will ignite your curiosity and leave you inspired.
Space Faculty is proud to announce the success of our Space Internship Programme (SIP), launched in collaboration with the Office for Space Technology & Industry, Singapore (OSTIn) earlier this year at the STEM 2.0 Education Forum 2023.
The SIP aims to ignite passion and curiosity in young individuals, encouraging them to explore the exciting world of space as a potential career path.
Since its inception, the SIP has welcomed close to 50 talented students who have had the opportunity to work alongside industry leaders from companies like Aliena Pte Ltd and Kymeta Corporation. These internships have provided invaluable insights into the inner workings of space enterprises, allowing students to gain practical experience and develop essential skills.
Bozhao Li, a student from the National University of Singapore (NUS), shared his experience: “The SIP not only broadened my perspective on the space sector but also introduced me to the operational and managerial aspects of running a space business. I learned from experienced professionals and gained valuable insights that will undoubtedly benefit my future career.”
Ganeshan Sureendhar, another NUS student, echoed Bozhao’s sentiments: “The program provided a unique opportunity to experience the day-to-day operations of a space startup. The friendly and supportive environment at Aliena made the internship even more enjoyable and rewarding.”
To commemorate World Space Week, we had the privilege of hosting a talk by our featured guest, Dr. Alexander Ling, a distinguished Quantum Physics Professor from the National University of Singapore (NUS), who shared how his work for the Centre for Quantum Technologies led to the founding of SpeQtral, a private company offering commercial space-based quantum key distribution (QKD).
In addition to Dr. Ling’s enlightening presentation, we convened an insightful panel discussion focusing on the thriving Singapore Space ecosystem. We discussed the remarkable advancements and opportunities within the space industry, highlighting the crucial role of education in nurturing the next generation of space enthusiasts.
This talk is part of Space Faculty’s STEM 2.0: Space for our Future programme – a series of talks to help students understand how space can ignite their future.
Excerpts from Zaoabo(translated)
For the elderly and people with reduced mobility, robots or drones that can deliver food to their homes will undoubtedly provide a great convenience. Teams of university students use geospatial technology to unleash their creativity and design food delivery solutions that help improve the lives of others…
…The GNSS Innovation Challenge, jointly organised by Space Faculty and the Singapore Land Authority, aims to raise awareness of these geospatial technologies and encourage the students to use them to design solutions to everyday problems…
…The Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law, Mr Edwin Tong, also exemplified the wide range of uses of geospatial technology in his speech at the awards ceremony held at Gillman Barracks on Thursday (26 Jan)
Excerpts from Zaoabo(translated)
In conjunction with the celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Singapore Business Federation and the Future Economy Council jointly launched a commemorative special publication “20 Conversations”, allowing 20 outstanding local business leaders from all walks of life to share their journeys and lessons learned to inspire business confidence, inspire change and drive the pursuit of new opportunities.
Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policy Heng Swee Keat on Friday (November 11), together with Federation of Industry and Commerce Chairman Lim Meng Yan, officiated at a thought leadership and networking event for the launch of the book.
The business leaders interviewed in the book include Alex Hungate, chief operating officer of Grab Group, Kwan Kwok-chung, founder and group managing director of Commonwealth Capital, Wu Junpeng, president of Singapore Airlines (SIA), co-founder of Ninja Van People and CEO Li Changwen and Doctor Anywhere founder Lin Weiwen.
Also interviewed were female business leaders H&H General Manager Chen Tianfen, CEO of Singapore Aerospace and Technology Corporation (SSTL) Tan Shuting and New Press Media Group President Zhang Lilin.
Excerpts from The Straits Times
We are grateful for the partnership with JAXA to “seed” this project!
In 2021, the island state sent coriander seeds to the International Space Station – an orbiting laboratory about 400km from Earth – as part of an Asia-Pacific project. Eleven countries contributed 22 herb seed types stored in a ziplock bag, to find out how space travel affects them.
While an astronaut’s health must be safeguarded from the harsh space environment, the coriander seeds more than held their own, turning into “superseeds” during their month-long stint in space.
When planted back on Earth, the seeds boasted a more luxuriant yield, weighing 41.4g versus their earthbound counterpart’s 33.1g.
Space radiation and microgravity – the condition of being weightless – led to genetic mutations in the seeds that could generate random but potentially useful traits, said the Singapore Food Agency in a joint reply with other institutions involved in the project.
The other institutions are Singapore Space and Technology, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine (BD-MED).
Space Faculty’s very own Ms Gillian Chin, who was also Singapore’s point of contact for the Asian Herb in Space (AHiS) project, said: “The purpose of AHiS is to provide students and young researchers in the Asia-Pacific region an opportunity to learn about space biology.”
Four Hillgrove Secondary School students found themselves at the Tsukuba Space Centre in Japan to witness an astronaut on the International Space Station conduct their experiment. Their meticulously designed experiment on paper plane flight in microgravity became the first-ever Singaporean proposal chosen for the Asian Try Zero-G (ATZG) competition in 2016
Space Faculty currently partners with JAXA to organise ATZG in Singapore to inspire future generations of scientists and engineers while fostering international collaboration in space research and development.