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TANEGASHIMA Space Center, Kagoshima (Japan) – The Philippines reaffirms its entry into the "space revolution" with the launch, on Monday, October 29, of its second microsatellite (microsat) – the Diwata-2 – in the space center of Japan. Tanegashima island south of Kyushu.
Diwata-2 flew over space thanks to the Jaxa H-IIA F40 rocket (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), bringing with it the greatest hopes of Filipino scientists who predict that the images it will provide will find even more applications for development in various sectors. that his precursor, Diwata-1, did.
The Scientific Secretary, Fortunato T. de la Peña, led the launch of the microsat, along with Chancellor of the University of the Philippines (UP) Michael Tan, Philippine Deputy Chef de Mission in Japan Eduardo MR Meñez and responsible for Jaxa. He was also honored by former Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi.
La Peña told BusinessMirror that this historic event proved the seriousness of the Philippines in their space program. He said space technology would help the country in its development work, as the data that will be extracted from the satellites would be used by different sectors, including agriculture, natural resources, the environment and the environment. ;industry.
He expressed the hope that the next satellite would be manufactured in the Philippines as planned
the country is already preparing experts for the project. "We are introducing space engineering to UP as part of our engineering courses," he said.
10 years program
At the meeting with Jaxa's President, Dr. Hiroshi Yamakawa, minutes before the launch of the satellite, La Peña said a 10-year national space program had been proposed to the Cabinet.
He added that the creation of a space agency is the first priority of the legislative program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Joel Joseph S. Marciano Jr., head of the Philippines Earth Observation Microsatellites Program (PHL-Microsat), said it was just the beginning of a long journey for the country's space program.
Marciano, also director of DOST's Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, said he was preparing the human resources necessary for the future success of the program.
Eight universities are already participating in the program. The workforce is considered important for the maintenance of the program. "In fact, a laboratory building has already been built" for space engineers.
The President of Jaxa announced that he was preparing a memorandum of understanding providing for close cooperation between DOST and Jaxa in space projects. The Chancellor of the UP, Tan, said: "What is important for us is to build a new horizon for our young people."
Meñez, at the dinner hosted by Jaxa on the eve of the launch of Diwata-2, said the event would inspire children, just like "when the first man on the moon would have filled the minds" in 1969.
For the Philippine delegation that will attend the launch of a satellite, "it would be very memorable," said Meñez.
Made in the Philippines
At the same dinner, Tan said the UP community hoped that the next Maya cube nanosatellite would be made in the Philippines. Maya-1 was deployed in space in August 2018.
The scientific community in the country and abroad has been looking forward to the launch of Diwata-2, which has "progressively improved in almost all its aspects" compared to its predecessor, Diwata 1, deployed in the Space in April 2016.
Mark Edwin Tupas, PHL-Microsatellite project manager, told BusinessMirror that Diwata-2 had a higher altitude of the Earth at 620 kilometers, while Diwata-1 was only 400 km at 420 km. This would give Diwata-2 a longer life of five years, or even 10 to 15 years.
"The higher the gravity from the Earth, the longer the life," he said, adding that having a lower altitude gave Diwata-1 an atmospheric drag and made it disintegrate faster.
"It is estimated that from April 2019, it is [Diwata-1] will start its decay in orbit because its altitude is decreasing, "said Tupas.
He noted that, despite its higher altitude that would produce images with lower resolution, the Diwata-2 camera will have improved quality that can produce better images.
In addition, Diwata-2's deployable solar panels will increase its power output and will include two locally-built experimental modules: an amateur radio unit for emergency communications and a satellite orientation module for increased pointing accuracy and future satellite development initiatives. Another important development of Diwata-2 is that its components are manufactured locally by UP engineers. In addition, the workforce that built the microsat is "three times larger than those [nine] in Diwata-1. "
Using microsat images
Tupas indicated some of the uses of Diwata-1 images for research – in land classification, terrestrial vegetation captured as in agriculture and forestry, water quality detection of Laguna de Bay, detection of the presence of fish pens, etc.
He acknowledged that, thanks to the microsateaux used for research, a number of government agencies, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Forest Management Bureau and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, provided students images collected by Diwata-1.
He explained that the growth of the country's space program resembled the development of a mobile phone that began with an analogue, with new phones released from time to time until the invention of the iPhone.
The PHL-Microsat program is funded by DOST, UP and in collaboration with the Japanese universities of Hokkaido and Tohoku. It is currently being monitored by the Council for Research and Development of Industry and Emerging Technologies (DOST-Philippine).
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