The Philippines officially launched nanosatellites Maya-3 and Maya-4 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday afternoon.
As the name implies, the Maya-3 and Maya-4 are the country’s third and fourth nanosatellites launched into space. They’re headed to International Space Station, with the Falcon 9 spacecraft scheduled to dock to the station by Monday night.
Like their predecessors, these two are equipped with sensors for their data-gathering mission for different fields of concern in the Philippines, including agriculture, disaster management, and weather monitoring.
Maya-3 and Maya-4 were created by university scholars of the Space Technology and Applications Master, Innovation, and Advancement, a satellite development, and operation program of the Department of Science and Technology
Through store-and-forward relay capability, the satellites will relay information regarding temperature, humidity, and wind speed. They also have an RGB camera to capture images and videos.
Maya-3 and Maya-4 will be launched into orbit from the ISS at a later, yet-to-be-announced date.