DOST eyes Pinoy-made mini-satellite by 2016

MANILA, Philippines - The government is planning to launch into space a Filipino-made mini-satellite by 2016, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said yesterday.

Rowena Cristina Guevara, executive director of DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), said local scientists are currently studying how to make satellites and sensors so the country could have its own “eye in the sky.”

Guevara said for the project to move forward, they need a law that would allow DOST to pursue a space program.

“We’re hoping Congress will pass a law creating a space agency,” Guevara told journalists in a forum on PCIEERD’s programs and projects.

She said the idea of launching a Filipino-made mini-satellite came after the development of the Light Ranging and Detection (LiDAR) mapping technology under the DREAM (Disaster Risk Assessment, Exposure and Mitigation) Project.

“We can use the mini-satellite for our LiDAR mapping,” Guevara said.

She said the ability of UP-Diliman scientists to develop the LiDAR showed they could learn cutting edge technology within a short span of time.

The DOST official said the DREAM Project’s LiDAR mapping technology bagged the Geospatial World Excellence in Policy Implementation Award for 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland last month.

Science Secretary Mario Montejo and DREAM program chief Enrico Paringit received the award on May 8.

“We were recognized because we are the only non-first world country that is doing LiDAR mapping on our own. Other countries outsource this because they don’t have the capability,” Guevara said.