Philippine space program
[2] It would be almost two decades before the Philippines would launch another satellite into space when government scientists from DOST and researchers from the University of the Philippines partnered with the Tohoku and Hokkaido Universities of Japan under the PHL-microsat program to launch Diwata-1, the first microsatellite designed and constructed by Filipinos and was deployed into orbit on from the International Space Station (ISS) on April 27, 2016.
Prior to the creation of the PhilSA, several government agencies under the DOST ran the country's space program: namely, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
[11] Efforts to establish a Philippine space program started as early as the 1960s, when the government built an Earth satellite receiving station.
It was also responsible for providing the equipment which enabled people in Asia to watch the Apollo 11 launch, which took place on July 16, 1969.
MSC was composed of numerous domestic telecommunications and broadcasting companies, along with Indonesia-based Pasifik Satelit Nusantara and China-based Everbright Group.
[18] [19] Then, President Fidel V. Ramos expressed his desire for a Philippine satellite to be in orbit in time for the APEC Summit to be held in the country in November 1996.
[24][25] The efforts were part of a bigger project, together with seven other Asian countries aside from Japan and the Philippines, to create a network of about 50 microsatellites.
[29][30][31]The first nanosatellite under the Birds-2 program, Maya-1 was also deployed from the ISS in the Japanese Kibo module along with two other satellites from Bhutan and Malaysia on August 10, 2018.
As of March 2018, there are seven pending bills in both the House of Representatives and the Senate seeking to establish the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA).
[32] In the meantime, the DOST has agreed with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, "to proceed with negotiations of an intergovernmental framework agreement on space cooperation that will include use of Russian rockets to launch Philippine payloads such as micro-and nano-satellites as well as the establishment of a receiving station for the Global Navigation Satellite System" (GLONASS), Russia's alternative to American Global Positioning System (GPS)[33] In late January 2019, the Department of Science and Technology has said that the Philippines is already capable of founding its own space agency with a pending bill already passed in the House of Representatives and pending counterpart legislation already pending in the Senate.
[39] In January 2022, Senators Manny Pacquiao and Koko Pimentel met with representatives of SpaceX and discussed the possibility of setting up a launch pad in Mindanao due to its proximity to the equator.
[42] On October 5, 2017, high school students from St. Cecilia's College-Cebu, Inc. launched 3-feet solid propellant Model rockets for the World Space Week 2017 celebration in Cebu City.
[44] TALA, the first high-powered hybrid rocket developed in the Philippines successfully lifted off at 11:57 AM Saturday from Crow Valley Gunnery Range, Capas, Tarlac.
[47] Student-researchers and science faculty from St. Cecilia's College - Cebu, Inc. in partnership with Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) successfully launched the first High-Altitude Balloon Life Support System "Karunungan" (HAB LSS Karunungan) in May 2018 at Minglanilla, Cebu, Philippines and floated above the Armstrong Line to simulate 'space like' conditions for future space flights.
[48][49] In 2019, Orbital Exploration (OrbitX), a private firm was set-up which aims to research on the usage as biofuel like algae to propel space launch vehicles.
