THE PHILIPPINES launched on Sunday its second cube satellite developed by three Filipino engineers.

The Maya-2 CubeSat was launched through the International Space Station along with Paraguay’s GuaraniSat-1 CubeSat and Japan’s Tsuru CubeSat for the BIRDS 4 Satellite Project —  KyuTech aboard the Northrop Grumman CRS-15 mission.

The Maya-2 CubeSat team is composed of Izrael Zenar C. Bautista, Mark Angelo C. Purio and Marloun Sejera.

The three space engineers are pursuing doctoral degrees in Space Systems Engineering and Space Engineering at the Kyushu Institute of Technology.

Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said the country launched two micro satellites — Diwata 1 and 2 — in 2016 and 2018, respectively, while Maya-1 was launched in June 2018.

“Since DOST started the Philippine Space Technology Development Program in 2014, we have already sent orbiting into space two micro satellites, Diwata-1 and Diwata-2, and two nanosatellites Maya-1 and Maya-2,” De la Peña said.

The Maya-2 CubeSat weighs 1.3 kilograms and is equipped with a camera for image and video capture.

Furthermore, Co disclosed that aside from the Maya-2 CubeSat, there will be two more, Maya-3 and Maya-4, that will be launched within the year.

De la Peña said that micro satellites Diwata-3 and Diwata-4 and succeeding nanosatellites are in various stages of development.