The History of the Philippines’ Space Program

Introduction

The story of the Philippines’ engagement with space is not merely a 21st-century tale of high technology and orbital mechanics. It is the modern expression of a much older, deeper connection to the cosmos. Long before the advent of satellites, the peoples of the archipelago navigated their seas and timed their harvests by the stars. Early Spanish accounts document a rich indigenous astronomical knowledge, with local names for constellations like Balatik for Ursa Major and Moroporo for the Pleiades, demonstrating a practical reliance on the heavens for terrestrial life. This long-standing tradition of looking skyward for national benefit provides a cultural backdrop to the nation’s contemporary space ambitions.

The journey into the modern space age has been one of methodical progress, marked by a gradual evolution from being a passive user of foreign satellite technology to becoming an active developer and operator of its own space assets. This history unfolds not as a single, monolithic project, but as a series of distinct phases, each building upon the last. It began with private, commercially-driven ventures focused on connecting the sprawling island nation to itself and the world. It then transitioned into a deliberate, government-led scientific program centered on building indigenous human capacity. This led to the creation of the country’s first home-grown satellites and the essential ground infrastructure to support them.

This path of incremental advancement, driven by national necessities, strategic international partnerships, and a persistent desire for self-reliance, culminated in the establishment of a unified national space agency. The Philippine Space Agency, or PhilSA, now orchestrates a national effort to leverage space for everything from disaster management and food security to national defense and economic development. The narrative of the Philippine space program is one of a nation reclaiming agency over its own vantage point from above, transforming from a consumer of space data into a creator of its own space-based knowledge. It is a story of how a developing nation, through pragmatism and strategic vision, is charting its own course into the final frontier.

Early Forays into the Space Age (1960s-1990s)

The Philippines’ first steps into the space age during the mid-20th century were not born from a grand scientific vision but from practical necessity and commercial opportunity. The initial driver was telecommunications—a technology uniquely suited to bridging the geographic fragmentation of an archipelago of over 7,000 islands and connecting it to a rapidly globalizing world. This era was defined by private sector leadership, with the government acting more as a partner and regulator than a direct implementer of a space science program.

A New Era of Communication

The earliest formal discussions about a Philippine space program emerged in the 1960s during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos. In 1966, a potential joint program with the United States was discussed between President Marcos and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, with the goal of using satellites to monitor the powerful typhoons that frequently batter the region. While these specific plans for a weather monitoring system did not materialize at the time, they signaled an early recognition of space technology’s potential for addressing national challenges.

The more concrete development of this period was in the realm of satellite communications. The government established the country’s first Earth satellite receiving station and partnered with private entities to form the Philippine Communications Satellite Corporation (Philcomsat). This move was of significant international consequence, as Philcomsat became a founding member of Intelsat, the international satellite consortium that managed the global communications satellite network. Through its ground station in Baras, Rizal, formally inaugurated in 1968, the Philippines was linked into this worldwide system. Philcomsat held an exclusive franchise for satellite communications not only in the Philippines but also for providing services to other parts of Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan.

A powerful demonstration of this new capability came in July 1969. It was Philcomsat’s infrastructure that enabled people across Asia to witness the historic television broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a moment that vividly showcased the power of satellite technology to create a shared global experience. The structure of Philcomsat as a joint venture, which later became a fully private corporation in 1982 after the government sold its shares, set the tone for the country’s early space-related activities, where commercial imperatives and political interests were the primary forces at play.

The Agila Satellites: Private Ambition Takes Flight

The momentum for a national satellite presence accelerated in the 1990s, driven almost entirely by the private sector. The decade saw the formation of two major consortia, both vying to operate the country’s own domestic communications satellites. In 1994, the Philippine Agila Satellite Inc. (PASI), a group of 17 companies, was established, followed shortly by the Mabuhay Satellite Corporation (MSC), which was formed by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) after it split from the PASI consortium.

This period led to the acquisition of the Philippines’ first two satellites, named Agila after the national bird, the Philippine eagle. The story of these two satellites illustrates the opportunistic and politically influenced nature of these early ventures.

Agila-1 became the country’s first owned satellite not through launch, but through an acquisition while it was already in orbit. In 1996, with the Philippines set to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, President Fidel V. Ramos expressed a desire for the nation to have its own satellite in time for the event. To meet this politically driven deadline, the Mabuhay Satellite Corporation acquired an active Indonesian satellite, Palapa B2-P, from the company PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara. The satellite was maneuvered into a new orbital slot on August 1, 1996, and officially renamed Agila-1. This Hughes-built HS-376 model satellite provided communications services until it was deorbited in January 1998.

Agila-2 represented a more significant technological step. It was the first Filipino-owned satellite specifically commissioned and launched into space. Launched on August 19, 1997, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China aboard a Long March 3B rocket, Agila-2 was a far more powerful satellite than its predecessor. Built by the American company Space Systems/Loral, this FS-1300 model satellite was equipped with 30 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders, giving it extensive coverage across Asia and the Pacific. It could transmit over 190 digital programming channels and handle more than 50,000 simultaneous telephone calls, making it a formidable communications asset in the region. Its control station was located at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. Agila-2 operated for two decades before being decommissioned in 2017, after being sold to Asia Broadcast Satellite in 2011 and renamed ABS-3.

This era, dominated by commercial interests, successfully established a Philippine presence in the satellite communications market. It built physical infrastructure on the ground and placed assets in orbit. However, this approach was fragmented and lacked a central, long-term national strategy for scientific development or human capital formation. The focus was on utilizing space as a commercial resource, not on developing the indigenous capability to create space technology. This foundational, yet incomplete, phase set the stage for a necessary shift in strategy, where the government would take the lead in building a space program from the ground up.

A New Dawn: The Government-Led Microsatellite Initiative

The 2010s marked a profound shift in the Philippines’ approach to space. The focus pivoted from the private sector’s commercially-driven acquisition of communications satellites to a state-funded, science-oriented program with a new primary objective: building indigenous capability. This new era was centered on developing smaller, more affordable Earth observation microsatellites and, most importantly, on cultivating the human expertise to design, build, and operate them. This strategic change laid the true foundation for the country’s modern space program.

The Birth of PHL-Microsat

In 2014, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) initiated the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) program. This represented the government’s first major, direct investment in developing its own satellite technology. Recognizing the need for knowledge transfer, the DOST forged a cornerstone partnership with two leading Japanese institutions, Tohoku University and Hokkaido University. This collaboration was not merely a procurement contract; it was an educational immersion designed to transfer the complex skills of satellite engineering to a new generation of Filipinos.

The program’s central goal was to develop and launch two 50-kilogram class microsatellites for scientific Earth observation. This mission focus on disaster management, environmental monitoring, and agriculture marked a clear departure from the purely commercial mandate of the Agila era, aligning the space program directly with pressing national needs.

Diwata-1: The “Fairy” Takes Flight

The first fruit of this new initiative was Diwata-1, the country’s first microsatellite designed and built by a team of Filipino engineers. The story of its creation is inseparable from the story of the “Magnificent 9,” the team of nine young engineers from the DOST and the University of the Philippines who were sent to Japan for graduate studies and hands-on training. This team became the nucleus of the Philippines’ satellite engineering workforce, making their development arguably the most significant output of the entire program. The investment was in human capital first, hardware second.

After its assembly and testing in Japan, Diwata-1 was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 23, 2016. It was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) as cargo. On April 27, 2016, in a moment of great national significance, Diwata-1 was deployed into orbit from the ISS’s Japanese Experiment Module, “Kibo”. The satellite, whose name means “fairy” or “nymph” in Filipino folklore, was equipped with three main scientific instruments: a High Precision Telescope (HPT) for detailed imaging of disaster-affected areas, a Space-borne Multispectral Imager (SMI) for assessing vegetation and ocean productivity, and a Wide Field Camera (WFC) for observing weather patterns.

Diwata-1 was a resounding success. Projected to last only 18 months, it remained operational for four years, orbiting the Earth over 22,000 times and capturing more than 17,000 images before re-entering the atmosphere on April 6, 2020. Its longevity was a testament to the quality of its design and construction, validating the capability of the Filipino team.

Diwata-2: Building on Success

The momentum from Diwata-1 was immediately channeled into its successor, Diwata-2, which was planned as early as 2016. This rapid follow-up demonstrated a commitment to creating a sustainable program rather than a one-off project. Developed by a team of eleven Filipino scholars, Diwata-2 incorporated several key technical improvements based on the experience gained from its predecessor.

These enhancements showcased the program’s iterative learning process. Diwata-2 was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit, which allows it to pass over the same part of the Earth at the same local solar time each day, providing more consistent lighting for comparative imaging—a significant advantage for monitoring environmental changes. It was also equipped with deployable solar panels for increased power generation, an amateur radio unit (ARU) to provide a backup communication channel for disaster relief operations, and an Enhanced Resolution Camera to sharpen the images from its main imagers.

Another marker of growing maturity was its launch method. On October 29, 2018, Diwata-2 was launched directly into its 620-kilometer orbit from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan aboard an H-IIA rocket, rather than being deployed from the ISS. This direct insertion allowed for a higher, more stable orbit and demonstrated an expanding range of launch options for the program. The Diwata program, through these two satellites, proved that the Philippines could not only participate in space activities but could also create its own sophisticated tools for national observation, setting a new and ambitious course for the country’s future in space.

Smaller, Faster, Smarter: The CubeSat Revolution

While the Diwata microsatellites represented a major leap in capability, the Philippine space program simultaneously embraced a global trend that would prove instrumental in accelerating its growth: the nanosatellite, specifically the CubeSat standard. This strategic adoption of smaller, cheaper, and faster-to-build satellites provided an ideal platform for training a larger pool of engineers and, most importantly, for bringing the entire satellite development process home to the Philippines. This was a masterclass in pragmatic technological advancement, using CubeSats as a stepping stone to full self-reliance.

Joining the Flock: The BIRDS Project

The Philippines’ entry into nanosatellites was facilitated by the Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite (BIRDS) project, an innovative educational initiative led by Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech). The philosophy of the BIRDS program was perfectly aligned with the Philippines’ capacity-building goals. It provided a structured, collaborative framework for students from non-space-faring nations to gain hands-on experience by designing, building, and operating their country’s first 1U CubeSats (a standardized 10x10x10 cm cube) as part of an international constellation. This approach lowered the technical and financial barriers to entry, allowing nations to take their first steps in space in a supportive, shared-learning environment.

The Maya Series: A Step-by-Step Journey Home

The Maya CubeSats, named after a local term for several species of small birds in the Philippines, became the workhorses of this new phase of the program. The progression of the Maya series tells a clear story of the methodical transfer of technology and knowledge from Japan to the Philippines.

Maya-1 (BIRDS-2): The journey began with Maya-1, developed as part of the second iteration of the BIRDS project (BIRDS-2). Two Filipino scholars, Joven Javier and Adrian Salces, designed and built the satellite at Kyutech alongside students from Bhutan and Malaysia, who built their own identical CubeSats, BHUTAN-1 and UiTMSAT-1. Launched in June 2018 and deployed from the ISS in August 2018, the 1.11 kg Maya-1 served as a technology demonstration platform. Its missions were practical and cost-effective, including a store-and-forward (S&F) system to collect data from ground sensors and an Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) digipeater, which allowed amateur radio operators to relay messages through the satellite—a useful capability for emergency communications. Maya-1 successfully operated for over two years before its mission ended in November 2020.

Maya-2 (BIRDS-4): Building on this success, a new team of three Filipino scholars—Izrael Bautista, Mark Angelo Purio, and Marloun Sejera—developed Maya-2 at Kyutech as part of the BIRDS-4 project. This time, the partner nations were Paraguay (GuaraniSat-1) and Japan (Tsuru). Launched in February 2021 and deployed from the ISS a month later, Maya-2 featured technical upgrades that demonstrated continuous innovation. It incorporated an active attitude control system for better pointing accuracy, a departure from the passive stabilization used in Maya-1, and also served as a testbed for new technologies like Perovskite solar cells.

Maya-3 & Maya-4 (STeP-UP): This pair of satellites represents a watershed moment for the program. Maya-3 and Maya-4 were the first CubeSats to be designed and built entirely within the Philippines, at a dedicated facility in the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). This critical achievement was made possible by the STeP-UP (Space Science and Technology Proliferation through University Partnerships) project, a key component of the broader STAMINA4Space program. STeP-UP established a local nanosatellite engineering track, effectively bringing the training and development process that had taken place at Kyutech home. The two 1.15 kg CubeSats, largely based on the heritage design of Maya-1 but with enhancements, were launched in August 2021. Maya-4 also carried a near-infrared camera, expanding the program’s imaging capabilities.

Maya-5 & Maya-6 (STeP-UP): The journey of localization continued with the second batch of university-built CubeSats, Maya-5 and Maya-6. Developed under the same STeP-UP project, this pair focused on further maturing the domestic development process by emphasizing the use of locally available components and fabricated boards, reducing reliance on foreign supply chains. Launched in June 2023, these satellites also pushed the technological envelope. Maya-6, in particular, carried an experimental onboard computer (OBC-EX), representing a step towards developing indigenous core satellite subsystems.

The Maya program was a brilliant strategic maneuver. Instead of attempting the difficult and expensive task of replicating a 50kg Diwata-class satellite domestically from the start, the Philippines used the more accessible CubeSat standard as a training ground. This allowed for rapid iteration, the training of a critical mass of engineers, and the successful transfer of the entire development ecosystem from a Japanese university to a Filipino one in just a few years, paving a faster and more sustainable path to space self-reliance.

Building the Foundation on the Ground

A successful space program is not measured solely by the number of satellites it has in orbit. The true measure of its capability lies in the complete system that supports those assets—from the ground stations that communicate with them to the programs that process their data and the people who turn that data into knowledge. The architects of the Philippine space program understood this from the outset, methodically building a holistic ecosystem on the ground in parallel with their efforts to reach for the sky. This integrated approach, focusing on the entire space value chain, has been a hallmark of the program’s maturity and a key factor in its sustained success.

PEDRO: The Philippines’ Gateway to Space Data

Central to this ground infrastructure is the Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation (PEDRO) Center. Established in 2016, PEDRO operates the network of ground receiving stations that serve as the country’s essential link to its orbital assets. The first station, equipped with a 3.7-meter tracking antenna, was established at the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) in Quezon City. This was followed by the inauguration of a second station in Davao City in 2019, featuring a larger 7.3-meter antenna, and a third station in Dumangas, Iloilo, in 2022.

This network of ground stations is a critical piece of sovereign infrastructure. It gives the Philippines the direct ability to download data from its own satellites, including the Diwata and Maya series, without relying on foreign intermediaries. Beyond its own satellites, the PEDRO Center is also tasked with receiving data from a host of international and commercial satellites, such as the PlanetScope constellation, GeoEye, WorldView, and the European Sentinel satellites, giving the country access to a vast repository of Earth observation data. This capability ensures that even when Filipino satellites are not overhead, the country can still access timely geospatial information for its needs.

From PHL-Microsat to STAMINA4Space: Maturing the R&D Ecosystem

The evolution of the government’s research and development programs reflects a clear strategic progression from initial experimentation to long-term sustainability.

The foundational PHL-Microsat program, which ran from 2014 to 2018, successfully achieved its primary goals: it built and launched the country’s first two microsatellites, Diwata-1 and Diwata-2, and trained the first cohort of Filipino satellite engineers. It answered the fundamental question: “Can we do this?”

With that question answered, the program evolved. In 2018, PHL-Microsat was officially succeeded by the Space Technology and Applications Mastery, Innovation and Advancement (STAMINA4Space) program. The name itself—STAMINA—signaled the new focus: ensuring the long-term endurance and sustainability of the country’s space efforts. The goal shifted from simply building satellites to building a self-perpetuating local industry and knowledge base. STAMINA4Space was designed to deepen expertise and systematically localize the capabilities that had been developed in partnership with Japan.

This strategic shift is evident in the structure of STAMINA4Space, which was broken down into several key sub-projects, each tackling a different part of the space value chain:

• OPTIKAL (Optical Payload Technology, In-depth Knowledge Acquisition, and Localization): This project focused on developing scientific and operational optical payloads (the “eyes” of the satellite) locally, with a primary focus on agricultural monitoring. This was a move to create indigenous sensor technology.
• PHL-50: This project aimed to take the designs of Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 and create a standardized, reusable 50-kg satellite bus platform. This would serve as a template for future missions, making satellite development faster and more efficient.
• STeP-UP (Space Science and Technology Proliferation through University Partnerships): As previously discussed, this was the project responsible for bringing CubeSat development into Philippine universities, creating a pipeline of new talent.
• GRASPED (Ground Receiving, Archiving, Science Product Development and Distribution): This project focused on the downstream side of the value chain, ensuring the systematic operation of the Diwata satellites and the development of systems to process, archive, and distribute the data they collected.
• ASP (Advanced Satellite Development and Know-How Transfer for the Philippines): This project was tasked with future planning, designing the next generation of satellites (which would lead to MULA), and assisting in the transition of all these activities to the future Philippine Space Agency.

This comprehensive structure shows that the program’s leaders were not just thinking about the next satellite launch. They were methodically building every component of a durable national space ecosystem—from ground stations and data processing pipelines to standardized hardware and, most importantly, a continuous stream of trained people to run it all.

One Agency, One Vision: The Birth of the Philippine Space Agency

For decades, the Philippines’ ventures into space were characterized by a fragmented approach. Early efforts were led by the private sector with a commercial focus, while later scientific initiatives were managed on a project-by-project basis within the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). While these projects achieved significant milestones, they operated under two persistent constraints: insufficient funding and the lack of a centralized, authoritative body to orchestrate a unified national space strategy. The successes of the Diwata and Maya programs made it clear that to sustain momentum and fully integrate space technology into the fabric of national life, a dedicated institution was necessary.

The Philippine Space Act (RA 11363)

The culmination of years of advocacy and groundwork came on August 8, 2019, with the signing of Republic Act No. 11363, officially known as the “Philippine Space Act”. This legislation is the single most important policy development in the history of the country’s space program. It provided the legal foundation for a coherent, long-term national space policy and created the central administrative body that had long been needed: the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA). The act recognized the “urgent need to create a coherent and unified strategy for space development and utilization to keep up with other nations” and formally transitioned the country’s space efforts from a series of R&D projects into a permanent instrument of national policy.

Mandate and Structure of PhilSA

The Philippine Space Act established PhilSA as the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the government for all space-related matters. To ensure its cross-cutting influence and alignment with national priorities, the agency was attached to the Office of the President for policy and program coordination.

Further underscoring the high level of political importance given to this new institution, the act also created the Philippine Space Council (PSC). The PSC serves as the principal advisory body for the space program and is chaired by the President of the Philippines, with its members including key cabinet secretaries and congressional committee chairs. To provide a solid financial footing, the law also established the Philippine Space Development Fund, which included an initial infusion of PHP 10 billion (approximately USD 200 million at the time) to be released over five years.

The Six Pillars of the Philippine Space Policy

The Philippine Space Act mandated the creation of a national space policy to serve as the country’s strategic roadmap, with the central goal of becoming a “space-capable and space-faring nation within the next decade”. This policy is built upon six key development areas (KDAs), which provide a comprehensive framework for all of PhilSA’s activities and demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of a modern space agency’s role:

1. National Security and Development: Focusing on the use of space applications to preserve national security, sovereignty, and promote economic development.
2. Hazard Management and Climate Studies: Utilizing space technology to enhance disaster mitigation, improve climate resilience, and manage the impacts of natural calamities.
3. Space Research and Development: Conducting R&D in vital areas of space science and technology to spur scientific growth and create new knowledge.
4. Space Industry Capacity Building: Fostering a robust local space industry through private sector cooperation and technology transfer.
5. Space Education and Awareness: Developing a sustainable pool of trained space scientists, engineers, and communicators, and increasing public awareness of the benefits of space technology.
6. International Cooperation: Engaging with the global space community to establish partnerships, share knowledge, and position the Philippines as a key player in the region.

The creation of PhilSA marked the maturation of the Philippine space program. It moved beyond being a purely technical endeavor and became a strategic national institution. The agency’s high-level placement within the government and its broad, six-pillar mandate reflect the recognition that space technology is a versatile tool with applications that touch upon defense, agriculture, education, foreign policy, and the economy. PhilSA was designed not just to build satellites, but to build a nation’s capacity to thrive in the 21st century.

Space for the Nation: Practical Applications and Partnerships

With a national agency established and a growing fleet of satellites in orbit, the Philippine space program entered a phase focused on delivering tangible benefits to the Filipino people. The program’s philosophy has always been fundamentally utilitarian, tying its activities directly to solving the nation’s most pressing challenges. This practical application of space technology, bolstered by a multi-aligned strategy of international cooperation, demonstrates the program’s value as a tool for national development, security, and diplomacy.

Eyes on the Earth for National Benefit

The data gathered by Filipino satellites and their international counterparts is being applied across several critical sectors.

Disaster Management: Given the Philippines’ location within the Pacific Ring of Fire and the typhoon belt, disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) is a primary application. Satellite imagery from Diwata-2 and other platforms is used for comprehensive pre- and post-disaster assessments. This allows authorities to quickly map the extent of damage from typhoons, floods, and landslides, identifying the hardest-hit areas and enabling a more efficient allocation of relief and recovery resources. The amateur radio payloads on Diwata-2 and the Maya series also offer a potential backup communication link when terrestrial networks are down.

Food Security: In agriculture, space technology is helping to make farming more resilient and productive. A notable example is the pilot program for an Area-Based Yield Index Insurance for rice farmers in Camarines Sur and Isabela. This initiative uses historical and current satellite data to model and predict crop yields. This allows for faster and more objective insurance claim assessments after a disaster, bypassing the need for slow, on-site inspections. Satellite data is also used for broader monitoring of crops, fisheries, and forest cover, providing valuable information for resource management and ensuring food security.

Environmental and Maritime Monitoring: Satellites provide a unique vantage point for monitoring the country’s vast natural resources and maritime territory. Data is used to map and assess the health of vital coastal ecosystems like coral reefs and mangrove forests. Furthermore, in conjunction with other technologies, satellites enhance maritime domain awareness, a key component of national security for an archipelagic nation.

A Web of Global Collaboration

The rapid progress of the Philippine space program would not have been possible without a strategic and diverse network of international partners. The country has pursued a multi-aligned diplomatic strategy, selectively collaborating with major space powers to acquire the specific capabilities it needs most.

Japan (JAXA): The partnership with Japan is foundational. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), along with Tohoku and Hokkaido Universities, was instrumental in the development of the Diwata microsatellites and the training of the first Filipino engineers. Cooperation continues through the BIRDS project with Kyutech for CubeSats, the Kibo Asian Beneficial Collaboration (Kibo-ABC) program, which allows Filipino researchers to conduct experiments aboard the ISS, and the Sentinel Asia initiative for sharing disaster-related satellite data.

United States (NASA, Fulbright): Cooperation with the U.S. focuses on high-level policy, capacity building, and data application. The two nations have established a bilateral Space Dialogue to strengthen exchanges on civil space matters, including the use of space for maritime domain awareness. A key component of this partnership is education, highlighted by the Fulbright-PhilSA scholarship program, which sends Filipino scholars to the U.S. for graduate studies in space science and technology.

European Union (Copernicus): A landmark agreement signed in 2023 with the European Commission grants the Philippines access to the vast data streams from the EU’s Copernicus program, one of the world’s leading Earth observation systems. As part of this cooperation, the Philippines is establishing a Copernicus Mirror Site and Data Centre, the first in Southeast Asia. This will transform the country into a regional hub for Earth observation data, allowing for faster and more efficient processing and distribution of vital environmental and climate information.

United Nations (UNOOSA): Engagement with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is central to the Philippines’ commitment to the peaceful and responsible use of space. A Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2021 provides a framework for cooperation on capacity-building, the use of space-based information for DRRM, and alignment with international space law and treaties. This partnership ensures that the country’s growing space activities are in step with global governance norms.

This pragmatic approach—using space technology to solve domestic problems and using diplomacy to acquire the necessary tools and knowledge from a diverse set of partners—has allowed the Philippines to maximize its resources and accelerate its journey toward becoming a self-reliant space-capable nation.

The Next Leap: MULA and the Future Trajectory

Having successfully built a foundation of human capital and technical know-how through the Diwata and Maya satellite series, the Philippine space program is now poised for its most ambitious step yet. The development of the Multispectral Unit for Land Assessment (MULA) satellite signals a significant escalation in capability and a transition from educational and experimental missions to a fully operational, national-level Earth observation system. MULA represents the culmination of the program’s entire capacity-building journey and embodies the long-term vision of the Philippines becoming a truly space-capable and space-faring nation.

MULA: A True Game-Changer

Announced in 2021, MULA is being developed by the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) as the country’s first operational-grade, commercial-quality satellite. Its design and mission reflect a new level of ambition.

A Leap in Scale and Power: Weighing 130 kilograms, MULA dwarfs the 50-kg Diwata microsatellites, placing it in a different class of spacecraft. This increased mass allows for a more powerful and sophisticated payload. The satellite is being co-designed and developed in partnership with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) in the United Kingdom, a world leader in small satellite technology. This collaboration continues the Philippine strategy of partnering with global experts for knowledge transfer, with a team of Filipino engineers deeply involved in the design and manufacturing process in the UK.

Advanced Capabilities: MULA‘s specifications are tailored specifically to address Philippine national needs. Its primary instrument is a TrueColour camera capable of capturing images with a 5-meter resolution across a wide 120-kilometer swath. This combination of high resolution and wide coverage will allow it to image approximately 100,000 square kilometers of land area daily, a massive increase in data-gathering capacity. The camera’s nine spectral bands are designed to be compatible with the European Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, allowing for seamless integration with existing data sets and applications for environmental monitoring, crop assessment, and land use mapping.

Critically, MULA will also be equipped with payloads for an Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS–B). These systems will allow the satellite to detect and track ships and aircraft within Philippine territory, providing a sovereign space-based asset for enhancing maritime domain awareness and national security.

Significance: MULA‘s launch, planned for the 2025-2026 timeframe aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will be a pivotal moment. It marks the program’s graduation from building smaller, educational satellites to operating a powerful, sovereign tool for continuous national observation. MULA is the physical embodiment of the program’s ultimate goal: to move from being a consumer of foreign satellite data to being a generator of its own high-quality, taskable, and secure national intelligence.

Vision for a Space-Faring Nation

The development of MULA is a major step towards fulfilling the long-term ambition laid out in the Philippine Space Act: for the Philippines to become a “space-capable and space-faring nation within the next decade”. The vision extends beyond just launching satellites. The ultimate goal is to cultivate a vibrant and sustainable domestic space ecosystem.

This includes fostering a local space industry, encouraging public-private partnerships to develop new applications and services, and continuing to build a world-class workforce through education and training programs. PhilSA’s long-term strategy focuses on solidifying the Philippines’ position as a key space player in Southeast Asia, capable of contributing to regional and global space initiatives. While developing its own launch capabilities remains a distant, aspirational goal, the immediate and sustained focus is on mastering satellite technology and its downstream applications. The journey that began with learning how to build small satellites is now aimed at creating an entire national industry that can leverage the unique vantage point of space to secure and enrich the nation.

Summary

The history of the Philippine space program is a compelling narrative of national evolution, charting a deliberate course from passive technology user to active technology creator. This journey, spanning nearly six decades, has been defined by a pragmatic, incremental strategy that has transformed a series of fragmented initiatives into a unified and capable national institution.

The story began in the 1960s, with early forays into the space age driven by the commercial imperatives of the private sector. The focus was on telecommunications, with the establishment of Philcomsat and the later acquisition of the Agila satellites serving to connect the archipelago and link the country to the global economy. While these ventures established a foothold in space, they were opportunistic and lacked a cohesive vision for building indigenous scientific capability.

A significant turning point occurred in the 2010s with the dawn of a government-led, science-oriented approach. Through the PHL-Microsat program and its successor, STAMINA4Space, the Philippines made a strategic investment in human capital. By partnering with Japanese universities, the country trained a new generation of Filipino engineers who designed, built, and operated the nation’s first microsatellites, the Diwata series. This was followed by a clever adoption of the smaller, more accessible CubeSat standard with the Maya series, a move that allowed for the rapid localization of satellite development from Japanese labs to Philippine universities.

This methodical capacity building was not limited to assets in orbit. In parallel, the country built the essential ground infrastructure, like the PEDRO network of receiving stations, and the data processing programs needed to make satellite imagery useful. This holistic approach, addressing the entire space value chain, demonstrated a mature understanding that a satellite is only as valuable as the system on the ground that supports it.

The culmination of these efforts was the passage of the Philippine Space Act in 2019 and the creation of the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA). This institutionalized the nation’s ambitions, providing a unified vision, a high-level mandate, and a strategic framework centered on six key pillars: national security, hazard management, R&D, industry building, education, and international cooperation.

Today, the Philippine space program is focused on delivering tangible benefits, using its space assets and international partnerships to address critical national challenges in disaster management, food security, and environmental monitoring. The upcoming launch of the MULA satellite represents the next major leap—a transition from educational platforms to a powerful, operational, and sovereign tool for national observation. The story of the Philippine space program is one of a nation methodically and strategically building the tools to better understand, manage, and secure its own territory, charting a clear and determined path toward a self-reliant and capable future in the space age.