PH in space

It was a long wait, but when it finally happened and I was asked for my reactions, I was speechless for a moment. Then I blurted out, “It was like watching a baby being born.”

The “baby” was Diwata-1, the Philippines’ first microsatellite, built by a team of faculty and students from the University of the Philippines Diliman together with mentors from Tohoku University and Hokkaido University, and with support from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and our own Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

I had been invited to watch the launch from Tokyo but with a packed schedule here, I had to decline.  Which was just as well because I got to watch the launch—streamed live from a Jaxa site through YouTube—together with the UP Diliman community at the College of Science amphitheater. The “birth” of Diwata-1 happened on April 27, 2016, 7:45 p.m., if we use Philippine time; it was 8:45 p.m. in Tokyo (where other UP and DOST officials watched) and 11:45 a.m. somewhere above South America, where the International Space Station was, with Diwata-1 inside, ready to be “born.”

As you read this, Diwata-1 has been communicating with Earth, and will soon start sending images of the Philippines that will be used for many purposes such as weather forecasting, including assessing the impact of climate change. The images will monitor agricultural production and provide information that our farmers can use. Diwata-1 will also take photographs of our seas and send images that can be used for fisheries.

How it impacts PH

Diwata-1 impacts on our life as a nation. Just think of Mindanao, where El Niño has been particularly destructive in terms of crop failures, and which has resulted in farmers taking to the streets. The tragedy of Kidapawan, where government troops fired on the protesting farmers and killed three, could have been avoided if we had more advance information on El Niño’s effects, and a government that could respond more quickly, not with bullets, but with forms of agricultural assistance.

Diwata-1 impacts, too, on our international relations. With our own microsatellite, we will not need to depend on other countries’ satellites for vital information, some of which relate to national defense. After Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), for example, we had to pay some P56 million to get data from other countries’ satellites.

Our satellite is a prototype; its life span is estimated to be about a year. Work has started on Diwata-2, which will take about two years. When launched, it will take a more stationary position over the Philippines—a watchful Diwata.

At the final launch of Diwata-1, DOST Director Carlo Primo David, who is also a faculty member of UP, explained that the idea for this satellite began several years ago, with some questions about whether the Philippines was prepared for it, or even wanted it. We did decide we wanted to go into space.

Space, outer space. I had to ask people what Filipino word we had coined for it, and was told: Kalawakan.  I like the term, which means more than just space but an expanse, without limits.  Space exploration is something we tend to associate with countries that have the technology, and budget, for such endeavors, but through the years, the “space club” has expanded to include even developing countries—neighboring Indonesia, for example.

It was only logical to work with the Japanese, with whom we’ve had academic ties for decades especially around science and technology.  UP Diliman’s Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (EEEI) took the lead, with Dr. Joel Marciano, who was the institute director at that time.

Big dreams

Fast-forward to the present: We have Diwata-1, which at 50 kilograms and the size of a large balikbayan box, is a satellite. But at Wednesday night’s launch, Joel said Diwata-1 might be small, but it represents the big dreams of Filipinos, some of which are coming true.

I was told about Diwata-1 several months ago, and the plans for its launch.  Last month, we had a small event, again involving livestreaming, to see Diwata-1 launched into space at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  That was dramatic in a different sense, involving a countdown to the launch of a rocket, inside of which was Diwata-1.  There was applause, and fingers crossed and wishes of bon voyage for a journey 400 kilometers into space to deliver little Diwata to the space station.

That happened, followed by a long wait for the right time to get it into orbit, which happened Wednesday night.  What we could see on the screen was Diwata-1 emerging from the space station, with many similarities to childbirth but with more precision. It was almost as if Diwata-1 had boldly jumped into space and the screen showed it moving downward, steadily, eventually to position itself to start its orbit around our planet.

I thought of all the people working not just on the physical Diwata-1 but also on its “mind” so it could survive out there, alone in Kalawakan.  It will be busy, no doubt, shooting photographs every few seconds and sending them to earth.

UP Diliman will continue to play a key role here, receiving, processing and sending out the data so these can be used. I’m proud to say, too, that UP Diliman will host a Philippine space agency in the EEEI. The construction of the building is about to start very soon, so there’s going to be more to all this than Diwata-1 and Diwata-2.

I thought about how UP itself has developed as a research university, roaming our islands and studying our flora and fauna, our cultures, our people.  We’ve also plumbed the seas, sometimes called “inner space,” with all its mysteries waiting to be unlocked and offering us new resources for survival and for life.

I’m hoping Diwata-1 will catch the imagination of our young, encourage them to look up to the skies, to Kalawakan, and to do more than just wonder what’s up there. I do not want UP, or the Philippines, to think in terms of our forays into space as conquests. On land, on our seas, and in space, we need to be even more humbled and awed, and to be even more curious to seek new frontiers of knowledge.

(There’s a video of the launch posted on www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rfQmbeAR4.  It’s more than an hour long, most of which is just music. A press conference starts at around 50:30.  Coverage of the launch itself starts at 1:41:20 and lasts about five minutes.  Hold your breath, exhale, and enjoy for a few minutes watching Diwata-1 make her way through Kalawakan.)

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mtan@inquirer.com.ph