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| Maya - 1 |
TechBlade has always been covering the progress of Philippine satellites. This was started with Diwata – 1, last 2015 and followed with its launch and deployment in 2016. Now, Maya – 1, the first Philippine Cube Satellite (CubeSat) was launched last June 29, 2018. TechBlade also featured its pre-launch a day before.
Maya – 1 was brought to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS15 during its re-supply mission to the ISS.
The June 29, 2018 launch was watched live at the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD) Electrical and Electronic Engineering Institute (EEEI) by students and engineers. The countdown at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA was also monitored by Maya – 1 creators Joven Javier and Adrian Salces, both graduate students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) in Japan.
The two Filipinos were part of Kyutech’s 2nd Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Project and were joined by their counterparts from Malaysia and Bhutan which also have their own CubeSats.
Being only 10 cubic centimeters in size, Maya – 1 is 100 times smaller than Diwata – 1. Although it has 2 lenses in its camera for wide and narrow image generation, Maya – 1 is not dedicated to only Earth observation purposes.
The aim of Maya – 1 is to teach Filipinos how to develop and make CubeSats for replication. This will be a step for more Filipino developed satellites in the future.
The CubeSat utilizes off-the-shelf components that make it cheaper to develop and create. This will give the capability to make more of this type of satellite for use by the Philippines.
Having an Automatic Packet Radio Service Digipeater, it is able to communicate with ham radio operators on the ground and can also be utilized as a repeater in transmitting communications transmissions from the ground. An example is in an event such as disasters knocking down radio transmission towers and cellsites, Maya – 1 can serve as a repeater in transmitting information and messages here in the country. Other features include the capacity o measure magnetic fields in space and a Global Positioning System (GPS).
Maya – 1 is expected to be deployed from the ISS this August 2018 and will be operational for 6 months.
Meanwhile, the second Philippine Microsatellite, Diwata – 2 will be launched later this 2018.
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