Davao airport to host ground station with largest antenna

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) will build a ground receiving station featuring the largest tracking antenna in the Philippines in Davao City.

The ASTI inked a memorandum of agreement with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines for the establishment of a Remote Multi-Mission Antenna System facility in the antenna bay compound of the Davao International Airport. 

This will include a 7.3-meter tracking antenna with radome and a 40-foot container van which serves as the control room. 

The ground receiving station is designed to communicate with Earth Observation satellites in space, particularly Diwata-1, the country’s first ever microsatellite deployed into orbit, and Diwata-2, which will be launched into orbit in June.

The ground receiving station construction in Davao City is part of a multi-agency research and development effort of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, with which DOST collaborates for its Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite program along with University of the Philippines-Diliman, ASTI and two Japanese academic institutions, Tohoku University and Hokkaido University.

Diwata-1 and 2 are part of DOST’s 10-year P24-billion Space Technology Development program – presented to the Cabinet in January 2017 by Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña and approved by President Duterte.

The facility in Davao airport is targeted for completion by the third quarter.