Thai Space Expo
October 16-18, 2025
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Bangkok, Thailand
On a sweltering October afternoon in Bangkok, I find myself exploring the displays at the Thai Space Expo, hosted in one of the city’s most bustling shopping centers, when something captures my attention. Among the impressive space suits and rocket models, there’s an unassuming packet of Thai basil chicken. I learn that this type of vacuum-sealed package has just been dispatched to the International Space Station.
“This is actual chicken that we have sent into space,” states a representative from the company behind the initiative, Charoen Pokphand Foods, which is the largest food provider in Thailand.
This is a surprising image, illustrating the rising enthusiasm within the Southeast Asian space industry. At the expo, nestled among chic boutiques and food stalls, eager participants have gathered from emerging space countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and of course Thailand to highlight Southeast Asia’s developing space sector.
While there is some ambiguity regarding the future progression of the region’s space industry, there is also a significant amount of hope. “Southeast Asia is ideally suited to take on a leadership role as a space center,” remarks Candace Johnson, a partner at Seraphim Space, a UK investment firm based in Singapore. “Numerous opportunities exist.”
For instance, Thailand plans to construct a spaceport to launch rockets in the coming years, as announced by the country’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency just before the expo began. “Currently, we lack a spaceport in Southeast Asia,” explains Atipat Wattanuntachai, acting head of the space economy advancement division at the agency. “We recognized a gap.” Being near the equator would provide those rockets with an added advantage from the Earth’s spin.
Various types of companies here are investigating how they can participate in the global space economy. VegaCosmos, a startup based in Hanoi, Vietnam, is exploring ways to utilize satellite data for urban development. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand is observing rainstorms from orbit to anticipate landslides. Additionally, the startup Spacemap, based in Seoul, South Korea, is creating a novel tool to more effectively track satellites in orbit, which has attracted investment from the US Space Force.
However, it’s the space chicken that grabbed my attention, perhaps because it embodies the clash of tradition and modernity evident throughout Bangkok, a city where ancient temples coexist with sparkling skyscrapers.
In June, astronauts aboard the space station enjoyed this beloved dish, known as pad krapow. Typically served by street vendors, this time it was delivered through a private mission organized by the US-based company Axiom Space. Charoen Pokphand is now leveraging this stunt to assert that its chicken is suitable for NASA (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to sample it myself).
Other industries in Southeast Asia could also provide expertise for upcoming space missions. Johnson suggests that the region could utilize its manufacturing capabilities to produce superior semiconductors for satellites or make strides in the in-space manufacturing sector.
I departed the expo on a Thai longboat navigating the Chao Phraya River that flows through Bangkok, with images of astronauts enjoying some pad krapow in my mind and pondering what might be next.
