Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite program

The Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) program is a satellite program carried by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines in cooperation with the Tohoku and Hokkaido Universities of Japan.

Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite program

Program logo
Country	Philippines / Japan
Organization	Department of Science and Technology University of the Philippines Hokkaido University Tohoku University
Purpose	Microsatellite development and operation
Status	Ongoing
Program history
Duration	2014–
Successes	2

Background

Inside the PEDRO Center.

Hokkaido University and Tohoku University of Japan initiated a project to send 50 microsatellites into space by 2050. The project will photograph aftermaths of natural disasters, partnering with governments, universities and other organizations based in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Two satellites are commissioned for the Philippine government.[1][2]

Diwata-1 is the first satellite of the venture and is also a part of the Department of Science and Technology's Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Micro-Satellite (PHL-Microsat) Program[3] which was initiated in December 2014 by the government agency.[4] The satellite is an updated version of the Raijin-2, which was developed by the two Japanese universities.[5] The satellite was deployed from the International Space Station on April 27, 2016.[6] Diwata-1 was replaced by Diwata-2 sometime in 2018.

The Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) announced on June 29, 2017 that two CubeSats or nanosatellites will be launch in 2018.[7] One of these satellites was Maya-1, a nanosatellite developed under the Kyushu Institute of Technology-led Birds-2 project, was launched to space. The equipment is the first nanosatellite of the Philippines and is also placed under the PHL-Microsat program. It is to be deployed from the ISS sometime in August 2018,[8] On August 10, Maya-1 was deployed from the ISS along with satellites from Bhutan and Malaysia.

Part of the program also includes training Filipinos on satellite building capabilities.[9]

It is planned that within the period of 2017 to 2022, that the Philippines will always have an operational microsatellite in orbit.[10]

Phases

The project is divided into five sub-projects or phases.[11]

Project No.	Objective
1	Development of Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 microsatellites
2	Development of a ground receiving station
3	Data processing, archiving and distribution subsystem development
4	Calibration and validation of remote sensing instruments
5	Remote sensing data product development

Mission summary

Designation	Launch			Deployment			Summary
	Date	Site	Vehicle	Date	Site	Vehicle
Diwata-1	March 23, 2016	Cape Canaveral SLC-41	Atlas V 401	April 27, 2016	ISS	Kibo module	First microsatellite of the Philippines
Maya-1	June 29, 2018	Cape Canaveral SLC-40	Falcon 9 Full Thrust	August 10, 2018	ISS	Kibo module	First nanosatellite of the Philippines.
Diwata-2	October 29, 2018	Tanegashima Space Center LA-Y	H-IIA	N/A	Replacement of Diwata-1
Maya-2[12]	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	Replacement of Maya-1
Diwata-3[12][13]	2022 (planned)	TBA	TBA	2022 (planned)	TBA	TBA	Replacement of Diwata-2

External links

• Official website

References

1. "Asian Universities + Asian Nations Go Small... Monitor Natural Disasters w/Network Of Microsatellites". Satnews Daily. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
2. Usman, Edd (15 January 2016). "DOST says PHL joining Asian 50-microsatellite alliance of 9 countries". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
3. Ranada, Pia (10 March 2015). "Introducing Diwata, the first Philippine-made satellite". Rappler. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
4. Sakamoto, Yuji; Gonzalez, Ariston; Espiritu, Juan Paolo; Labrador, John Leur; Oliveros, Julian; Kuwahara, Toshinori; Yoshida, Kazuya (25 May 2015). "Development of the Satellite Bus System for PHL-MICROSAT". Japan Geoscience Union. Chiba. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
5. Morimoto, Miki (6 March 2015). "Japanese, Filipino researchers to jointly develop satellites to check typhoon damage". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
6. Suarez, KD (27 April 2016). "Diwata-1, the first Philippine microsatellite, deployed to space". Rappler. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
7. Usman, Edd (30 June 2017). "After micro-satellite, DOST set to launch 'cube satellites' in 2018". Newsbytes. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
8. "Maya-1: Cube satellite latest Pinoy venture into space". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 1 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
9. "DOST to launch microsatellite to gather data on disasters". PTV News. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
10. "PHL's second microsat off to space today". The Daily Guardian (in English and Tagalog). 29 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
11. Keanne, Phillip (7 July 2018). "The Philippine microsat program & satellite control centre". Space Tech Asia. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
12. Resurreccion, Lyn (12 August 2018). "PHL 'won't be left out now' in space program". BusinessMirror. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
13. Arayata, Ma. Cristina (1 February 2019). "DOST execs note importance of Space Agency creation". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 3 February 2019.