{"id":21463,"date":"2016-01-13T18:40:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T10:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=21463"},"modified":"2016-02-02T18:43:21","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T10:43:21","slug":"pinoy-made-microsatellite-to-raise-agri-productivity-advance-disaster-preparedness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2016\/01\/13\/pinoy-made-microsatellite-to-raise-agri-productivity-advance-disaster-preparedness\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinoy-made microsatellite to raise agri productivity, advance disaster preparedness"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a landmark project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)\u00a0 through the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development, the first Filipino made micro satellite is poised to fly high in the next two months.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This micro-satellite uses cutting edge technology, designed and assembled by Filipino scientists and engineers on a comprehensive training on satellite technology at Japan\u2019s Tohoko and Hokkaido universities.<\/p>\n

DOST \u2018s\u00a0 launch into this new horizon is driven mainly by\u00a0 the project\u2019s major nationwide\u00a0 benefits such as improving agricultural productivity and food security. The microsat, once put in space,\u00a0 will be able to send critical data on weather systems which are crucial for our farmers to adjust planting methods and procedures in the light of climate change.<\/p>\n

Named after Filipino mythological character, Diwata (\u201cfairy\u201d), the first Filipino built microsatellite, weighs just 50 kilograms but the benefits are indeed heavyweight.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiwata is a micro-satellite that was designed and developed by an all-Filipino team of scientists and engineers now based in Japan who were trained in this technology in our hope of providing vital information to our farmers so they will be prepared on what crops to plant, when to plant and how they can provision contingencies in overcoming the ill effects of El Nino up to the middle of 2016,\u201d said DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo.<\/p>\n

Just like other countries around the world, this satellite technology will greatly improve the capability of our national weather agency, the DOST-PAGASA, to make accurate forecasts and weather monitoring that is crucial in agriculture. The data that will be generated by Diwata will enable DOST- PAGASA to predict extreme weather systems like the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon that can dramatically affect agricultural productivity, crop yield, and threaten food security.<\/p>\n

In fact, PAGASA was able to map out its strategy months in advance before the onset of El Ni\u00f1o last March 2015. This was made possible due to satellite weather data that was sourced from independent satellite data providers at that time. But because of Diwata, PAGASA\u2019s\u00a0 forecasting will greatly improve because of more available data at its disposal.<\/p>\n

Using satellite data and imageries, PAGASA was able to make a forecast on the extent and severity of El Ni\u00f1o in the different provinces and regions on a month-to-month basis. This will allow our local farmers, agricultural officers of local government units and the private sector involved in producing and processing agricultural products to plan and establish safety nets to cushion the impact of the dry spell.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy investing in our intellectual resources, harnessing the best minds in our country, we developed Diwata to provide our people the opportunity to reap the many benefits it offers aside from information critical to agriculture because these same data can be used to monitor our forest cover and natural resources, implement a responsive disaster risk management program like Project NOAH, enhance water resources management systems and improve weather monitoring and forecasting,\u201d added Montejo.<\/p>\n

Today marks a milestone for Philippine venture into outer space as the Philippines and the two Japanese universities as project collaborators hand over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Diwata, the micro-satellite branded as \u201cProudly Filipino Made\u201d to be our eye-in-the-sky.<\/p>\n

Diwata will be sent to the United States, either in Florida or California, by JAXA for its launch to be carried to the International Space Station that will orbit the earth 400 kilometers up in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe at the DOST believe that this is a big step forward to attaining technological self-reliance by harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation. The talents of our own scientists are working for our people and we are confident that the benefits of DIWATA will boil down to improving the lives of Mang Juan and Aling Maria in the long run,\u201d concluded Montejo.\u00a0 (STII S&T Media service)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a landmark project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)\u00a0 through the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development, the first Filipino made micro satellite is poised to fly high in the next two months. This micro-satellite uses cutting edge technology, designed and assembled by Filipino scientists and engineers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[3286,1310,933,4025,4024],"class_list":["post-21463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-communications","tag-department-of-science-and-technology","tag-disaster-preparedness","tag-diwata","tag-microsatelitte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}