JUAN IN SPACE

We've mentioned in our previous article that Diwata-1 took an ISS orbit while Diwata-2 will be launched to a Sun-synchronous orbit. We've also mentioned that Agila-1 and Agila-2 were previously positioned to a certain degree of orbital slot.  But what are these things called orbit? Do I need to know these things? Why should I care? Orbit is the path followed by a satellite. You are probably aware that the moon orbits the Earth -- and moon is a natural satellite! There are several types of orbits, and each has their pros and cons. Let us take a look at some of the most common satellite orbits. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites in this orbit resides from 180 km to 3000 km from the Earth's surface. Due to its closeness to the surface, this orbit is easily accessible and launch opportunities are common, keeping the launch cost low. This orbit is popular for remote sensing applications since small and relatively less powerful cameras can work well from this dist...

Everyone has their own mission in life, even a satellite. Well, harsh as it may sound but strictly speaking, a satellite exists only for the purpose of fulfilling its mission. And honestly, without a good mission, it is hard to get funding support for development and launch. Today, we will take a look at some common satellite mission categories. These categories also serve as satellite's classification by function which I mentioned in my previous post. Hopefully, this article will help us recognize the benefits of having a satellite. I mentioned before that space gives us opportunities to solve our problems, and these are some problems that satellite solve. I'm also actually paving the path for the sensitive topic of space economy and politics which I've been trying so hard to avoid, but well, we will get there. Haha. For now, here are your satellite missions. Communications Communication satellites dominate the space market. If you’ve watched NBA Live on your t...

There are many ways to classify satellites. These categories can be by function , by type of orbit or by mass. We will discuss satellite's functions and orbit in our next articles but for now, we will focus on satellite's classification by mass. Satellite's mass has direct impact on its cost, its development cycle and its launcher. The larger the satellite, the bigger is the development cost. This is because larger satellites carries more equipment such as redundancy modules, propellant, and more solar panels. Also, since it has more components and the lifetime and reliability expectation is higher, design reviews and tests conducted are also more than smaller satellites. Finally, larger satellites occupy larger space in the rocket, entailing higher launch cost. The names of the categories by mass is not an official convention. We can still, however use it for generic purposes: Large satellite - 1000 kg Medium-sized satellite - 500 kg to 1000 kg Small satellites...