Philippine’s microsatellite to help gather vital images

MANILA, Philippines – Having its own satellite will enable the Philippines to gather images that will provide data on the country’s weather, forestry and territorial waters, which in turn will be helpful on matters of national security, an official of the Department of Science and Technology said Friday. 

Carlos Primo David, director of the DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) which is heading the program to launch a microsatellite into space this April, said the whole Philippines will be covered, as well as other countries the satellite will pass by.

“Because we own it, we can program what it will look at,” David told science reporters at a press briefing at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

David said with the Philippines currently not capable of satellite imaging on its own, images that are required by the government have to be procured from countries that have satellites.

These images, he said, are expensive.

He cited that the DOST purchased satellite images of Eastern Visayas in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013 to assess the typhoon’s damage.

“The satellite images were worth P56 million,” David said.

David confirmed the expected launch of the Philippines’ own satellite – a microsatellite or as small as a balikbayan box – by April.