DAVAO CITY, Philippines– The Department of Science and Technology in Davao Region (DOST-11) will build the largest tracking antenna in the Philippines in Davao City as part of its strong commitment in providing innovative solution through research and development.
DOST Davao Region director Anthony Sales said the facility is covered by a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DOST 11 and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for the establishment of a Remote Multi-Mission Antenna System (RMMAS).
“This will include a 7.3 Meter Tracking Antenna with Radome and a 40-foot container van which serves as the control room. The ground facility is designed to communicate with Earth Observation (EO) satellites deployed in space,” Sales said.
The ground facility is designed to communicate with Earth Observation satellites deployed in space by receiving, processing, exploiting and distributing space-borne imagery and derive information from the supported remote sensing satellites for various applications such as disaster mitigation, natural resource management, environmental monitoring, pollution control, energy exploration, intelligence and emergency response management.
“Target date of completion of this facility is in the third quarter this year,” he said.
After the establishment of the facility, Sales said the DOST 11 as a partner agency, will be in charge of the monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting of the system.
The project is part of a multi-agency research and development effort of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), wherein DOST collaborates for its Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Micro-satellite (PHL-Microsat) Program along with University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, DOST-ASTI and two Japanese academic institutions, Tohoku University (TU) and Hokkaido University (HU).
Meanwhile, Diwata-1 and 2 are part of DOST’s 10-year PHP24-billion Space Technology Development (STD) Program – presented to the cabinet in January 2017 by DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña and approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The agreement is aimed at sending two satellites in space, with Diwata-1 being the first.
Diwata-1 started this mission in the 1st quarter of 2016 when it was deployed successfully from the International Space Station (ISS).
All the images and data taken by the EO’s will be sent to the Philippine Earth Data Resources Observation (PEDRO). Two 50-kg class microsatellites called Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 will work for hand in hand in space for a multi-spectral high precision earth observation.
With the intensified utilization of satellites, its applications cater many areas including disaster prevention and the environment.
The ground stations thus contribute to the establishment of a prosperous, safe, and secure society.
The free services that this facility can offer is providing satellite raw images, conducting image analysis and processing to perform but not limited to the Post-disaster Damage Assessment, Landslide Hazard Assessment, Flood Extent Mapping, Monitoring of Volcanic Activity, Sea Level Rise Monitoring, Forest Fire Monitoring and Assessment, Post-earthquake Damage Assessment, Forest Cover Assessment (SAR or NDVI from optical), Illegal Logging Monitoring, Urban Sprawl Assessment, Rice Yield Estimation (SAR), and Building footprint mapping.-Armando Fenequito/PNA
