TALA, the first hybrid rocket made by Filipinos, is set to launch in 2023, the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) recently announced.

The TALA hybrid rocket was 3D-printed using advanced composite materials. It was supposed to be launched back in March 2020 at Mati City Airport, Davao Oriental but has been pushed indefinitely because of the pandemic.

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Image: St. Cecilia’s College Rocketry Team

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TALA was developed by Filipino students, researchers, and their mentees from St. Cecilia’s College – Cebu back in 2018. It is 10 feet long and weighs 15 kilograms and was developed under the Young Innovators Program of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

The TALA Rocket comes with flight sensors, dual parachute deployment, GPS, and a payload system that can carry Can Satellite (CanSat) up to roughly 5 kilometers into the atmosphere.

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Now, the said launch will happen at the Colonel Ernesto Rabina Airbase (CERAB) or Crow Valley in Tarlac City. The re-preparation was done since early 2022 by the folks behind TALA, PhilSA, and the Philippine Air Force through the Philippine Air Force Research and Development Center.

PhilSA director-general Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano Jr. said that they fully support the project and hope that other young Filipinos will be motivated to “pursue their own space endeavors and journeys in scientific discovery,” and assured that they are also motivated to heighten their “efforts in promoting and expanding homegrown space capabilities.”

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