2 PH-made cube satellites launched into space —PhilSA

Maya-5 and Maya-6, the second batch of Philippine university-built cube satellites (CubeSats), were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday night, the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) said.

The CubeSats, weighing about 1.15 kilograms each, were aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply mission. They are expected to move along an orbit at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers once released to space.

According to PhilSA, Maya-5 and Maya-6 CubeSats would allow the country opportunities to get space technology information and hands-on experience in satellite development.

“The Cubesats share the same bus but differ in mission payload. Maya-5 has the same mission payload as that of Maya-2, and Maya-6 has the experimental on-board computer (OBC-EX) mission payload, which controls the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) and hentenna (HNT) missions,” the agency said in a statement.

In August 2021, the Philippines’ first locally developed CubeSats, Maya-3 and Maya-4, were launched to the ISS. Their mission ended in August 2022.

The Maya-5 and Maya-6 were built under the Space Science and Technology Proliferation through University Partnerships (STeP-UP) project of the STAMINA4Space Program, which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and is implemented by the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) and the DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI). —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA Integrated News