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| Diwata-1Scien |
In 2016, the Philippines had its first micro-satellite, Diwata-1. This micro-satellite put the Philippines in the Space Age. Diwata-1 has imaging technology that is used for weather mapping, agriculture, land surveys, and even military purposes.
The country does not intend to stop there. Diwata-2 is designed to further build Philippine Communications technology advanced capabilities since Diwata-1 has only image generation capacities.
Diwata-2 is scheduled to be launched by the middle of 2018. It is the second Filipino developed and designed micro-satellite. Diwata-2 has an added telecommunications component. That is according to Carlos Primo David, executive director of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).
Like Diwata-1 a team of Filipino engineers in Tohoku University and Hokkaido University is currently at work in developing and constructing Diwata-2.
“We’re putting in a telecom component. So (we) can communicate via satellite,” David said at the PCIEERD 7th anniversary celebration at the PICC in Pasay City.
“And it’s not Japanese technology. The telecom part is developed purely by the Filipino engineers,” David also said.
“This will be the start of our (satellite) communications technology,” David said.
“Just imagine, this is the Philippines. When the satellite passes through us, as long as it’s above us, we can communicate anywhere via satellite,” David disclosed.
“With Diwata-2, we can send messages to the satellite, and the satellite will send these back to whomever we want,” David added.
“Rarely are they combined together in one satellite. So I see the benefits of taking pictures but more so for the communications part. Imagine, during a disaster when all the networks are down, or even in an isolated barangay, now there’s a chance for you to communicate from there to wherever,” David also stated.
Diwata-2 will pass by the Philippines six times a day same as Diwata-1.
TechBlade has been featuring Diwata-1 even before it was launched last year.
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