The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) was established through the Philippine Republic Act No. 11363, also known as the “Philippine Space Act,” signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in August 2019. PhilSA serves as the central government agency addressing all national issues and activities related to space science and technology applications.

Its obligations include organising, creating, and advancing the country’s space program in accordance with the Philippine Space Policy. The organisation focuses on six main areas of development: National Security & Development, Space Research & Development, Hazard Management & Climate Studies, Space Education & Awareness, Space Industry Capacity Building, and International Cooperation.

PhilSA was the first customer of Eartheye Space as we launched the minimum viable product (MVP) for direct, self-service tasking of earth observation satellites as an aggregator in an Uber for satellites business model in April 2023. Eartheye Space was delighted that such a trailblazing space agency in the Asia-Pacific region under the visionary stewardship of Dr Joel Joseph Jr Marciano became a customer of the platform. The agency provided invaluable feedback as we released subsequent versions of the platform since the MVP launch.

Experience with Earth Observation Data Acquisition with Eartheye Space

PhilSA’s experience with earth observation data acquisition on Eartheye Space’s Sat-Tasking platform has been overwhelmingly positive. When asked to comment, PhilSA noted that the timely and quality of support it received from Eartheye Space staff who resolved early platform l issues had proven beneficial to the agency. This responsiveness is crucial for maintaining the efficiency and reliability of data acquisition processes. Furthermore, PhilSA also pointed out that Eartheye Space ensures openness and empowers users to make informed selections without worrying about hidden costs by providing transparent and upfront pricing, and that recent enhancements have improved user control and made information regarding image captures readily accessible, making the experience more user-friendly.

Use Cases and Applications

The Sat-Tasking platform has served various tasks, such as mapping and monitoring specific areas of interest. One notable example involved acquiring high-resolution imagery of a mountainous region in order to track environmental changes and determine the amount of deforestation. PhilSA also used different tasking tiers available on the platform depending on the latency requirements of the use cases. The team performed some taskings at the emergency tasking tier, delivering the data within the day.

Impact of Eartheye Space

With its extensive feature set, Eartheye Space’s tasking platform has greatly improved PhilSA’s experience in sourcing earth observation data. When asked to comment about a noteworthy feature from the early release of the platform, PhilSA singled out the information on the first capture date for submitted Areas of Interest (AOI). This feature helps users manage expectations by providing a timeline for the tasked data delivery, thus improving planning and decision-making. Such capabilities have streamlined the acquisition and utilisation of satellite data for various applications. PhilSA also identified some areas for improvement in the platform to further enhance its functionality. One such improvement is the redownload of a previously downloaded image suggesting that it would save time and add convenience. While this request is understandable, as the lack of multiple downloads may cause friction for some users, it would also have to be balanced with the economics of the platform’s operation. As such, we will introduce this feature for additional payment.

Future Use of the Platform

PhilSA has also expressed interest in additional features and functionalities that could enhance their use of the platform. These include unique capabilities on the Sat-Tasking platform:

• Multi-sensor tasking: The ability to task multiple satellite images, especially night image captures, hyperspectral images, SAR images, and videos, would provide more comprehensive data for analysis.
• Automatic information extraction: Attaching automatic extraction of information – also known as a feed – from the tasked data would streamline the process and improve data utilisation.
• Image comparison: Sat-Tasking’s image comparison is already a useful feature for checking changes.

PhilSA’s experience with earth observation data acquisition on the Sat-Tasking platform has been positive, thanks to responsive support, transparent pricing, and recent platform improvements. Eartheye Space has played a significant role in enhancing users’ experiences through its tasking platform. However, further improvements such as simultaneous image downloads, re-download capabilities, and the use of additional features like multi-sensor tasking could greatly benefit PhilSA’s operations. These enhancements would support PhilSA’s mission to harness space science and technology for national development, and national security, and contribute to the global space community.