BANGKOK, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thailand plans to build a small-sized satellite to counter threats in its air space, Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong said on Monday.

Prajin, who concurrently chairs the National Space Policy Committee, said the planned satellite will be built by Thai engineers attached to the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.

The satellite will be built to weigh about 50 kg and orbit at an altitude of 500 to 600 km. It will be basically designed to counter possible threats in air space over Thailand, the deputy premier said.

He said those threats could possibly include "hostile" satellites and debris in space which might drop onto the ground in this country.

It will take four years for the GISTDA engineers to build such a satellite with some 1 billion baht (about 30 million U.S. dollars) budget, according to the deputy premier.

The space agency will propose its satellite project to the cabinet for approval on Tuesday so that it would be operational from 2021, he said.