Visionary investor setting sights on Singapore as a space superpower

Serial entrepreneur Candace Johnson, who shattered satellite monopolies, believes the city-state can become Asia's space hub.

- Wong Kim Hoh

It is a humid August morning in 2023, and New Delhi is humming with power.

Inside the Business 20 summit—the business world's heavyweight dialogue with the Group of 20—suit-clad captains of industry trade handshakes and sound bites. The air crackles with talk of artificial intelligence breakthroughs, chip wars and supply chain rewiring.

Then, a woman with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a luscious mane of silver hair steps up to the podium. Instead of the usual jargon-laced speech, she breaks into song.

"Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars..."

The hall, filled with power players like the head honchos of Qualcomm and Microsoft, falls into a hush, before erupting into laughter and applause. The voice belongs to space and serial entrepreneur Candace Johnson, well-known for being audacious and unexpected.

The day before, the Chandrayaan-3—a mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation—had successfully landed on the Moon's South Pole for a mere US$74 million (S$95 million). By singing the Frank Sinatra classic, the 72-year-old American wanted to make the point that space is not just for superpowers: it's for everyone.

"That is exactly what Chandrayaan was all about," she says during a recent visit to Singapore.

A visionary investor in the space and telecommunications industry, Ms Johnson has been called the "Czarina of Space" and "Satellite Lady" for shattering monopolies, building global networks from scratch and consistently betting on the impossible.