The University of the Philippines PHL-Microsat Team and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) achieved another milestone on October 29, 2018, as Diwata-2, the second microsatellite built and designed by Filipinos was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan via the H-II F40 rocket.
In a viewing session at UP Diliman’s GT-Toyota Auditorium, project leaders of the PHL-Microsat joined their counterparts from government, the Japanese Embassy in Manila, the media and the UP community to witness the launch on the big screen. A more technologically advanced sibling of the groundbreaking Diwata-1 microsatellite, Diwata-2 will orbit at a higher altitude (~620km.), and features an increased lifespan and a sun-synchronous orbit that makes repeated environmental monitoring of specific places possible.
Like its predecessor, Diwata-2 carries a wide field camera (WFC), middle field camera (MFC), high precision telescope (HPT), and spaceborne multispectral imager (SMI) with liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF). Unlike its predecessor, it features the deployable solar panels for increased power generation output, an enhanced resolution camera (ERC), and two locally-made experimental modules: an Amateur Radio Unit for disaster and emergency communications and a Satellite Orientation Module for increased pointing accuracy.
Diwata-2 was developed, as was Diwata-1, with the mentorship and support of Japan’s Hokkaido University and Tohoku University. It is a pivotal precursor to the next phase of Philippine space technology, called the Sustained Support for Local Space Technology and Applications Mastery, Innovation and Advancement (STAMINA4Space) Program, that aims to build a local industrial base and enhance local space science and engineering expertise towards the establishment of the Philippine Space Agency. (Andre DP Encarnacion, UP MPRO)
Check out the story behind Diwata-2 HERE.
