DOST earmarks P1 B for space technology R&D

The Department of Science and Technology ( DOST) is earmarking as much as P1 billion for space technology research and development as it eyes the Philippines becoming a hub for space technology industries in Southeast Asia.

Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said that after the successful development of Diwata-1, the Philippines’ first microsatellite designed and built by Filipino engineers and scientists with technological assistance of Japan’s Tohohoku University and Hokkaido University, and the ongoing development of Diwata-2 also in Japan, the DOST was keen on possible technologies that can be further developed.

The P1-billion budget for space technology R&D will be for 2017 after which it could grow to a yearly allocation of P2 billion, Dela Peña said.

“These are the areas where we would like to have an impact thru space technologies: national security and development, hazard management and climate studies, space industry and capacity building, and education,” Dela Peña said in a press conference last Thursday for the 23rd Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-23) hosted by Manila and held at the Sofitel Philippines Plaza Manila from Nov. 15-18.

Top local astrophysicist Rogel Mari Sese said that the Philippines has the capability to become the hub of space technology and space applications in Southeast Asia where engineers, scientists, and industry stakeholders around the region can converge, instead of the country sending its professionals abroad.

Sese said that this potential has been established with the successful R& D effort that resulted in Diwata-1 built by a team of mostly UP Diliman engineers and scientists, and the launch of the microsatellite into orbit earlier this year.

Sese is the focal person for the Philippine Space Science Education Program of the DOST – Science Education Institute (SEI).

The government invested around P840 million for the Philippine Microsatellite program that led to the successful development and launch into orbit of Diwata 1 – the first microsatellite designed and built by Filipinos, and deployed into orbit from the International Space Station on April 27, 2016.

“The initial strategy is to send our scholars abroad,” Dela Peña added. “The best strategy is to institute some academic programs here in the Philippines and that might involve the invitation of some foreign experts to help us initialize some of these programs. But eventually, we hope that we will be able to train our own.”

“We’re looking toward building our own space industry,” Sese said. “We are a little bit behind. But if we do things right, we can take the lead in the Southeast Asian region.”

Sese, a member of the APRSAF Space Environment Utilization Working Group, claimed that having a space industry in the Philippines would translate to jobs not only for astrophysicists, engineers, and others directly involved with the space industry, but also for support personnel.

“It had been stated that we need around 800 aerospace engineers and scientists in the next 10 years. Studies have shown that for every person directly involved in the space field, there are four other people who serve as support personnel,” Sese explained.

With a local space industry generating a lot of jobs, the brain drain that currently characterizes local manpower will hopefully be stopped.