Wu Zongxin, director of the National Space Center, is a person who has dedicated his life to the ideal of space and dares to dream, especially in the space field of Taiwan, which is like a desert. The romantic space dream of a young man was also filmed as Mayday’s MV “Stubborn”.
Born in Tainan, Wu Zongxin has dreamed of space since he was a child. After obtaining a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from National Taiwan University, he went to Michigan to study for a doctorate in aerospace engineering. He has been inextricably linked to space all his life. He was also the man who made Wu Zhengzhong, the former minister of science and technology, wait. The director of the National Space Center waited for Wu Zongxin for half a year. Finally, with the efforts of Wu Zongxin, the National Space Center was upgraded to an administrative legal person, leading more cross-ministerial cooperation and industrial exchanges.
What’s more special is that Wu Zongxin was invited to give a speech at TED X Taipei. He explained the profound rocket science in fluent Taiwanese, which aroused applause from the audience.
Talking about his journey to space, Wu Zongxin played a video showing a monkey walking crookedly on the steel cables of the handrail of the suspension bridge instead of walking on a flat suspension bridge. Wu Zongxin believes: “It is destined to take a different path, Taiwan society needs this kind of person even more.”
In the 1990s, Wu Zongxin returned to Taiwan to participate in the Harbit project, integrating theory and practical experience, “mounting kitchen knives on bamboo poles” all the way, and cultivating space talents for Taiwan.
Although the space field was not the country’s primary policy in the past, Wu Zongxin believes that Taiwan’s National Space Center has been established for 30 years and has certain technologies and capabilities. It is not a problem to be ranked among the top 15 to 20 in the world.
Looking back on his journey in space for more than 30 years, Wu Zongxin said: “I never thought I would come here.” He didn’t limit himself to undergraduate engineering, but also studied system engineering to understand the needs of the industry, and even jumped to become a boss himself. Space technology All aspects of knowledge are in the mind of the rocket uncle Wu Zongxin.
When former Premier Su Zhenchang took office in 2019, the first official document he signed was the third phase of the space program, with a total cost of 25.1 billion yuan for a period of 10 years. Then he established the Space Industry Alliance, combining the strength of the industry, hoping to integrate space Industrialization of science and technology.
Wu Zongxin said that compared with other countries, the budget of 25.1 billion yuan for 10 years is not a lot. In the past, space was a strategic technology, but now it is focusing on the development of low-orbit communication satellites, which has brought a low-cost space industry.
Taiwan’s strengths are system OEMs, especially OEMs, which earn hard money. Rockets and satellites go into space, with at least 20,000 to 30,000 parts, whether it is electronics, electrical machinery, communications, materials, civil engineering, labor, labor, etc. Mathematics, etc., talents in almost every field are very important.
Wu Zongxin believes that when doing OEM in the past, everyone used mass production to compete for cost performance. Although the space industry is very complicated, it is very suitable for Taiwan to develop into a new industrial chain.
When he was still in the private sector, Wu Zongxin promoted the “space economy”, hoping to bring in all related fields, pass the certification of space regulations, and accelerate the development of the space exhibition industry. After serving as the director of the National Space Center, Wu Zongxin has to take care of all aspects and provide a more important role for the national space policy.
After the establishment of the Space Industry Alliance in Taiwan, it is hoped to integrate forces from all sectors of industry, government, academia and research to develop a new space industry chain. Wu Zongxin pointed out that when the Space Industry Alliance was first established 4 years ago, there were only a dozen companies participating, but now there are more than 80 companies. The Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Bureau of Industrial Technology assist companies in forming ground industry alliances. It is roughly estimated that the scale has reached 200. Even Space X’s Starlink project is looking for Taiwan to do OEM.
In nearly 40 years of space research career, Wu Zongxin believes that: “Failure is a necessary nutrient.” Regardless of whether entrepreneurship is beaten to the ground or there is no breakthrough in the R&D process, the ideal is always sweet, and the practice process is painful. As long as you know failure, you know success. If you succeed accidentally, it will be very troublesome.
Gather advantages in the real estate industry to compete for space business opportunities
Wu Zongxin, director of the National Space Center, believes that space technology used to be a stage for world power competition, but in recent years it has turned into a space economy. With the development of commercial satellites in various countries, Taiwan has self-made satellite capabilities, combined with existing advantageous industries such as semiconductors, information and communication, and precision machinery, making Taiwan an important R&D and manufacturing base for satellite industry components and related system equipment and services.
At present, Taiwan’s space industry is divided into four major areas, including: satellite manufacturing, launch services, ground equipment, and back-end applications. The National Space Center TASA currently has the ability to design and manufacture satellites, and will gradually support the industry in the future. Launch service, currently starting the research and development of satellite vehicles to make up for the gap in the current industrial chain.
Musk’s dream of low-orbit satellites has created a business opportunity for investment in space. How can Taiwan catch up? Wu Zongxin believes that Taiwan is developing the first low-orbit communication experimental satellite project, the purpose is to construct a set of my country’s low-orbit communication satellite standards, invest in ground baseband and communication protocol technology, ground communication RF and antenna technology research and development, and satellite network maintenance and operation Management and application services, etc., to achieve system link reliability and management efficiency, and integrate relevant legal persons and industry forces to jointly establish its own low-orbit satellite communication test field. At the same time, by encouraging industrial upgrading and R&D subsidies, the energy supply of the industry will be enhanced, international business opportunities will be sought, and the development of my country’s low-orbit satellite industry will be accelerated.
Looking forward to the future, talents are definitely an important factor in the development of space technology and business opportunities. Wu Zongxin emphasized that the space center TASA is not only committed to the promotion of space science education, offering degree programs and professional courses in the space industry, but also contributing to the establishment of the Institute of Space Systems Engineering, The introduction of post-doctoral research talents and the establishment of a space academy are carried out in a multi-pronged manner.
At present, 5 universities including Tsinghua University, Yangming Jiaotong University, National Central University, Taipei University of Science and Technology, and National Defense University have opened space programs, and will continue to negotiate and expand participating schools. In addition, the establishment of the “Space Systems Engineering Research Institute” by the Ministry of Education is currently approved by Yangming Jiaotong University, Fengjia University, Beijing University of Science and Technology, and Chengda University. It is expected to start recruiting students in 2023.
Wu Zongxin’s small file
◎Current Position: Director of National Space Center
◎Birth: 1964
◎Education: Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Michigan
◎Experience: Distinguished Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Yangming Chiao Tung University, Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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