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| Diwata - 1. The first Philippine Microsatellite |
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) announced that images taken by Diwata – 1, the country’s first microsatellite will be made available to the public free of charge.
Diwata – 1 was deployed April 27, 2016 and has already sent images to the Philippine scientific community.
TeachBlade has followed the development of Diwata – 1 since 2015 and all the way to its launch and deployment last year. The Philippine microsatellite is tasked to take images from space. These would include pictures to be used in agriculture, military purposes, geographical mapping, environment related monitoring, weather and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM).
Since its deployment, Diwata – 1 has circled the earth 5,000 times and sent images numbering in the thousands.
DOST still has to disclose how much of the images taken will be available for distribution by the PHL-Microsat Program.
Diwata – 1 is a joint program between the DOST, The University of the Philippines and Hokkaido University of Japan where Filipino engineers underwent training and participated in the development of the microsatellite.
The images can be accessed through www.phl-microsat.up.edu.ph following registration procedures, according to the project proponents after the soft launch last April 27, 2017 after commemorating the first year of the launc..
The free public access to the Diwata – 1 images aims to help research and dissemination of knowledge to a much wider base.
“We are opening up the photos to the public because it’s not just those working in the Diwata program who know how to make use of these satellite images and the images are already there, it would be a waste if usage won’t be maximized,” said PHL-Microsat Project 5 leader Engr. Mark Edwin Tupas.
Although access if free of charge, this will still be under certain conditions according to Dr. Joel Joseph Marciano Jr., PHL-Microsat leader and acting director of the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute. For example, these must not be used for commercial purposes and are not for sale to third parties.
Diwata – 1 images are already being used in environment monitoring as what can be gleaned from images it generated showing siltation in Palawan. It is also currently being used for agricultural purposes in crops monitoring.
Diwata – 1 was also cited by NASA for being an efficient, a cost saving satellite and producing quality images that are better than previous satellites.
Diwata – 1 has a functioning lifetime that will last until November 2018. Diwata – 2 is now being developed and will be scheduled for launch soon.
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