The country’s first micro-satellite, developed and assembled by nine young Filipino engineers, has reached the International Space Station after being launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Camp Canaveral in Florida, the Department of Science and Technology confirmed on Sunday.
In an interview over radio dzMM, Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development executive director Carlos Primo David said the low earth orbit satellite Diwata-1 will be calibrated before starting its mission.
Diwata-1 was carried into space by Cygnus, an American automated cargo spacecraft designed to transport supplies to the space station.
It is among the five micro-satellites carried by Cygnus, along with essential supplies and research materials that will be off-loaded at the space station.
The 50-kilogram Diwata-1, named after the Filipino mythological fairy, was assembled by nine Filipinos in Tohoku and Hokkaido Universities in Japan in the last 14 months.
The nine engineers, aged between 22 and 26, are Juan Paolo Espiritu, Benjamin Jonah Magallon, Gerwin Guba, John Leur Labrador, Julian Oliveros, Kaye Kristine Vergel, Ariston Gonzales, Delburg Mitchao, and Harold Paler.
David said he hoped the team behind the country’s first space project would be given due recognition when they return from Japan.
He said the Diwata team worked on the design, implementation and testing of various structural, mechanical and electrical aspects of the micro-satellite.
David said Diwata is expected to be unloaded at the ISS in the first week of April and released into space on April 20.
He said the micro-satellite will capture images of the Philippines from space starting the first week of May.
The Department of Science and Technology and the University of the Philippines in Diliman will declare Diwata a success as soon as it sends back satellite images of the Philippines from outer space a week or so after it is deployed into orbit, he added.
Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said the launch marks a breakthrough in Philippine history.
Montejo said the satellite would enable the government to generate real-time data that will help the country improve its disaster-response mechanisms.
“The satellite will also aid the rest of the country in terms of agriculture and tourism, with the satellite gathering data that will help farmers decide what crops to plant and where, while also capturing the country’s natural wonders,” Montejo said.
Diwata-1 has four specialized cameras for taking images of weather patterns, agricultural productivity and land and water resources. It is expected to be in orbit for approximately 20 months, taking images twice daily.
While Diwata-1 is still in orbit, its sister Diwata-2 will be launched in late 2017 or early 2018.
The satellites are part of a research program started in 2014 to develop local expertise in space technology and allied fields in science and engineering.
The PhilMicrosat Program is being implemented by several departments in UP Diliman and DOST’s Advanced Science and Technology Institute, together with two partner universities in Japan where the Diwata engineers are taking their higher studies.
Also part of the project is the installation of a satellite ground receiving station in Subic, Zambales that will take in Diwata’s images, as well as images from selected commercial satellites.
Diwata 1 and 2 and the ground station called the Philippine Earth Data Resources Observation (Pedro) are part of a three-year, P840.82-million micro-satellite program.