The Philippines launches its own space agency
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a new law on August 8 to establish the Philippine Space Agency, or PhilSA, in a move that officials say will have “positive impacts on the country’s national security and people’s welfare.”
The Philippines is now the sixth country in Southeast Asia to operate a space agency besides Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
This new government office is tasked to serve as the “primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the executive branch of the government that will plan, develop and promote a national space programme in line with the Philippine Space Policy.
The country’s space policy is focusing on six areas – national security and development, hazard management and climate studies, space research and development, space industry capacity building, space education and awareness and international cooperation.
Thirty hectares of land under the administration of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority within the Clark special economic zone in Pampanga and Tarlac will be allocated exclusively for the PhilSA office and its research facilities.
While the Philippines has been tapping space technology for more than a century already, it was not until the advent of the new millennium that it more actively engaged in space-related endeavours.
In 2014, the country implemented its micro-satellite program that honed local engineers to produce Diwata-1, Diwata-2, and Maya-1, which were all subsequently launched into space courtesy of foreign facilities.
The country has invested around 7.5 billion pesos (almost $143 million) since 2010 for space research and development, and that the country already has more than a thousand experts in space science.
The space policy is also not precluding sending a Filipino into space to do experiments at the International Space Station.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a new law on August 8 to establish the Philippine Space Agency, or PhilSA, in a move that officials say will have “positive impacts on the country's national security and people's welfare.” The Philippines is now the sixth country in Southeast Asia to operate a space agency besides Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. This new government office is tasked to serve as the "primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the executive branch of the government that will plan, develop and promote a national space programme in line with the Philippine...
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a new law on August 8 to establish the Philippine Space Agency, or PhilSA, in a move that officials say will have “positive impacts on the country’s national security and people’s welfare.”
The Philippines is now the sixth country in Southeast Asia to operate a space agency besides Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
This new government office is tasked to serve as the “primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the executive branch of the government that will plan, develop and promote a national space programme in line with the Philippine Space Policy.
The country’s space policy is focusing on six areas – national security and development, hazard management and climate studies, space research and development, space industry capacity building, space education and awareness and international cooperation.
Thirty hectares of land under the administration of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority within the Clark special economic zone in Pampanga and Tarlac will be allocated exclusively for the PhilSA office and its research facilities.
While the Philippines has been tapping space technology for more than a century already, it was not until the advent of the new millennium that it more actively engaged in space-related endeavours.
In 2014, the country implemented its micro-satellite program that honed local engineers to produce Diwata-1, Diwata-2, and Maya-1, which were all subsequently launched into space courtesy of foreign facilities.
The country has invested around 7.5 billion pesos (almost $143 million) since 2010 for space research and development, and that the country already has more than a thousand experts in space science.
The space policy is also not precluding sending a Filipino into space to do experiments at the International Space Station.
