With climate change and global warming triggering more severe weather conditions across the globe and the Philippines smack in the center of it, it has become necessary for the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) to advance national technological self-reliance through space data utilization initiatives.
According to PhilSA director general Dr. Gay Jane Perez, their primary hardware mission is the development of the 130-kilogram Multispectral Unit for Land Assessment (MULA) satellite designed for precision agriculture, coastal security and disaster risk management.
Considered as the largest Filipino-built satellite to date, MULA was developed by PhilSA alongside local academic institutions and the United Kingdom’s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). It is capable of capturing high-resolution imagery for agriculture, disaster management and national security.
Aside from multispectral satellite, PhilSA also leads the PhilSA Integrated Network for Space-Enabled Actions towards Sustainability (PINAS) project that mobilizes space data across local government units (LGUs) and civil society.
This direction received executive backing during President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s recent State of the Nation Address (SoNA), when he announced plans to establish the country’s gateway spaceport in Cagayan province aimed at expanding the national aerospace footprint.
In his pronouncement, the president specifically framed domestic space capabilities as vital to future economic growth, regional security and infrastructure development.
Accordingly, PhilSA is laying the technical groundwork to build indigenous capabilities.
“In partnership with South Korea’s Perigee Aerospace, (we) plan to launch our first liquid-fueled sounding rocket carrying a domestic payload. This initial suborbital test serves as an operational stepping stone toward developing a commercial spaceport,” Dr. Perez announced.
Currently, PhilSA is collaborating with the European Union to establish a Copernicus Mirror Site that would strengthen climate monitoring and environmental resilience nationwide.
Besides the EU, the agency is likewise looking to India as a key strategic partner for bilateral cooperation and technological exchange to accelerate spacefaring development.