PEDRO Center
Established2016
Research typeSatellite ground station network
DirectorFranz de Leon
LocationQuezon City, Davao City, and Dumangas, Philippines
AffiliationsDepartment of Science and Technology
Operating agency
Advanced Science and Technology Institute
Websiteasti.dost.gov.ph/projects/pedro-center/

The Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation Center, also known as the PEDRO Center is an organization tasked in operating satellite ground stations.

It is part of the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Micro-satellite (Phil-Microsat) program by the Department of Science and Technology, which includes the deployment of the Diwata-1 and Diwata-2 microsatellites.[1] It also receives information from commercial satellites.[2]

History

The Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation (PEDRO) Center project was implemented by the Advanced Science and Technology Institute of the Department of Science and Technology in December 2016 following the launch of the Philippines' first microsatellite, Diwata-1 on April 26, 2016. The project was implemented to be able to establish a ground receiving station that would gather data from satellites.[3]

Satellite ground stations

PEDRO's first satellite ground station is situated at the Department of Science and Technology–Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST–ASTI) facility at the University of Philippines Diliman in Quezon City, Philippines.[4] The facility has a 3.7 meters (12 ft) satellite tracking antenna.[5]

The ground station was initially planned to be located inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Subic, Zambales.[6] This plan was reportedly changed in March 2016, with the ground station to be built in Diliman, Quezon City instead. Construction began in 2016[7] and PEDRO became operational by June 2017.[4]

The second satellite ground station was launched on June 30, 2019[8] and is located at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Transmitter Facility in Davao City's Francisco Bangoy International Airport.[5] The Davao facility has a 7.3 meters (24 ft) satellite tracking antenna and a 12.19 meters (40.0 ft) container van which serves as a control room.[9]

A third ground station in Dumangas, Iloilo was launched in August 2022.[10] While the first two stations were funded by the DOST, the Iloilo station was financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.[11] The station was slated to open in July 2020 but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ground station Location Coordinates
ASTI Ground Receiving Station University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 14°38′50″N 121°04′19″E / 14.647219°N 121.0719533°E / 14.647219; 121.0719533
Davao Ground Receiving Station Francisco Bangoy International Airport, Davao City
Iloilo Ground Receiving Station Dumangas, Iloilo

Linked satellites

Aside from the PHL-Microsat satellites the Pedro Center has access to data of other third-party satellites.[3]

Multispectral satellites
SAR satellites

References

  1. ^ Yee, Jovic (12 January 2015). "1st PH-made satellite set to go into space". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  2. ^ Icamina, Paul (28 March 2016). "'Diwata' a step closer to orbit". Malaya. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b "PEDRO Center - History". Advanced Science and Technology Institute. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Usman, Edd (5 June 2017). "How Diwata-2 is better than PH's first satellite, Diwata-1". Rappler. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  5. ^ a b Nazario, Dhel (30 June 2019). "Davao ground receiving station launched soon". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  6. ^ Ranada, Pia (10 March 2015). "Introducing Diwata, the first Philippine-made satellite". Rappler. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  7. ^ Ronda, Rainier Allan (24 March 2016). "US aircraft with Philippines's first microsatellite launched into space". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  8. ^ Palicte, Che (2 July 2019). "PH's largest satellite-tracking antenna launched in Davao". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Largest Ground Receiving Station in PH operates this 2019". Edge Davao. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  10. ^ Mia, Katrina (August 16, 2022). "DOST-ASTI Welcomes Addition to Family: Iloilo Ground Receiving Station". DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  11. ^ Arayata, Maria Cristina (29 January 2020). "More PH-Japan S&T collaboration underway". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
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