Maya-5 and Maya-6 CubeSats Launched to International Space Station

21 Juni 2023

Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying cube satellites Maya-5 and Maya-6 to the International Space Station (photo : NASA)

The Philippines’ next batch of locally developed cube satellites (CubeSats) Maya-5 and Maya-6 were successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on 05 June 2023 at around 11:47 PM PST. Maya-5 and Maya-6 are aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply mission. The CubeSats, weighing approximately 1.15 kilograms each, will move along an orbit similar to the space station’s at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers once they are released into space.

The Maya-5 and Maya-6 CubeSats were built under the Space Science and Technology Proliferation through University Partnerships (STeP-UP) project of the STAMINA4Space Program, which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and is implemented by the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) and the DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI). The nanosatellite track under the Master of Science (MS) or Master of Engineering (MEng) program of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (EEEI) of UPD is also implemented in collaboration with the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) in Japan and with scholarship support from DOST-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI).

Maya-5 and Maya-6 are the second set of Philippine university-built CubeSats and, similar to its predecessors, provide local opportunities to acquire space technology know-how and hands-on experience in satellite development. It is also geared towards increased utilization of domestic capabilities by transitioning to locally available components, fabricated boards, and manufactured structural frames.

Maya-5 & Maya-6 cubesats (photo : STAMINA4Space)

The Maya-5 and Maya-6 CubeSats are a technology demonstration and educational platform developed for remote data collection through Store-and-Forward (S&F) Mechanism, similar to its predecessor from Kyutech’s 4th Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite (BIRDS-4) Project, Maya-2, which was decommissioned on 5 July 2022. The Cubesats share the same bus but differ in mission payload. Maya-5 has the same mission payload as that of Maya-2, and Maya-6 has the experimental on-board computer (OBC-EX) mission payload, which controls the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) and hentenna (HNT) missions.

This milestone is the 6th successful launch to space of satellites that are made through the collaboration of the Philippines and Japan including Diwata-1 and Diwata-2. The CubeSats are another addition to the roster of nanosatellites developed and sent to space by our country. Here are the CubeSats’ predecessors with their respective launch and mission end date:

-Maya-1: Launched June 29, 2018; Ended Mission November 23, 2020

-Maya-2: Launched February 21, 2021; Ended Mission July 5, 2022

-Maya-3 and Maya-4: Launched August 29, 2021; Ended Mission August 4, 2022

The next nanosatellite, Maya-7, is a 2U CubeSat currently being developed through PhilSA’s Advancing Core Competencies and Expertise in Space Studies Nanosat Project (ACCESS Nanosat). ACCESS Nanosat kicked off in September 2022 and provides the opportunity for Filipinos to pursue a master’s degree with specialized courses in satellite engineering at the EEEI. In this project, a team of select students and researchers are in the process of designing and developing the Maya-7 CubeSat.

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