By Katrina Gracia Consebido
President Ferdinand R. Marcos on Wednesday, Oct. 19, commended the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) for its resoluteness in developing a complete Philippine-made space satellite.
Dubbed as Multi-spectral Unit for Land Assessment (MULA), the satellite will be built by a team of all-Filipino engineers of PhilSA, with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
MULA weighs approximately 130 kilos and can cover 73,000 square kilometers in a day gathering data from land, air, and sea areas of the Philippine territory.
MULA will be the largest Philippine-made satellite once unveiled to the public. It is also considered as a ‘game changer’ in the country’s space technology program.Â
The satellite can detect air and water quality, abundant fishing grounds, zoom in traffic situations, presence of ships in the territorial waters of the country.
It will be utilized to improve maritime domain awareness, territorial monitoring, and security evaluation.
In a meeting with DOST Secretary Renato Solidum and PhilSA officials, Marcos expressed enthusiasm for the progress and completion of the project that is set to be launched in 2025.
Through RA 11363 or the Philippine Space Act, PhilSA was created with a mandate to safeguard Philippine sovereignty, territorial integrity, country’s interest, and the right to self-determination as mandated by Article II, Section 7 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.