Diwata-2 catches Phl, Earth images
A gray-scale image of the Earth was among the first photos captured by Diwata-2, the second Filipinomade microsatellite launched into space.
The Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHLMicrosat) program on Sunday released the first images captured by the satellite, which also included snapshots of the fields of Kalinga and a portion of Aurora.
“Diwata-2 has successfully captured images, less than a month after its launch,” said the program in a blogpost. “These images are part of the initial tests and calibration phase of Diwata-2’s cameras.”
The image of the Earth was taken using the satellite’s wide field camera and shows large cloud patterns above the South China Sea.
The Kalinga image was taken by Diwata-2’s high precision telescope, while the Aurora image was captured using the space-borne multispectral imager.
The PHL-Microsat said Diwata-2 can capture several images within a cropping season, making it useful for determining the stages of crops and estimating potential yield as well as assessing the damage brought by flooding, drought and other disasters.
“Images of coasts captured through Diwata-2’s cameras can be used to assess coastal conditions which are key indicators for water quality, ecological health and resource management,” it added.
Diwata-2, built by Filipino space engineers in Japan, was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on Oct. 29.
It is the second iteration of Diwata-1, which was launched in 2016.
Both Diwata 1 and 2 are Earth-observing microsatellites capable of capturing images of the planet for environmental assessment.
Another Filipino-built satellite – a smaller “nano” cube satellite called Maya-1 – was launched into space earlier this year.