EXPLAINER: How a sounding rocket launch fits into the Philippines' spaceport ambitions

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s announcement during his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the Philippines will launch a rocket next year may sound like a giant leap, but the planned mission is intended to mark the country’s first step toward developing its own space launch capability.

The planned mission is not an orbital rocket launch that will send satellites into space. Instead, it is a test launch of a liquid-fueled sounding rocket, a type of rocket commonly used for scientific research, atmospheric studies, and testing new technologies before larger orbital missions.

Unlike orbital rockets that place satellites into space, sounding rockets travel to high altitudes to carry scientific instruments, conduct experiments, and collect data before returning to Earth.

According to the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), the planned demonstration flight will carry a locally developed payload weighing up to two kilograms and reach an altitude of at least five kilometers. The mission is expected to validate rocket technologies, launch procedures, and safety protocols while helping develop Filipino expertise in rocket engineering.

The launch will be undertaken by PhilSA, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), in partnership with Philippine firm Ascend International Gateway Inc. and South Korean aerospace company Perigee Aerospace. The collaboration builds on a memorandum of understanding signed during the Philippines-Korea Business Forum in March.

Selected Filipino engineers are undergoing advanced training using Perigee Aerospace’s sounding rocket platform under a technology transfer program aimed at building local aerospace expertise.

Why Cagayan?

The planned launch site is within the Cagayan Economic Zone, which Marcos described in his SONA as the country’s future “gateway to space.”

PhilSA said the location offers strategic advantages because it faces the Pacific Ocean and lies relatively close to the equator. These conditions allow for safer launch and recovery operations while reducing fuel requirements and improving launch efficiency compared with sites farther from the equator.

The agency said the sounding rocket launch is significant because it lays the groundwork for establishing the Philippines’ first spaceport.

A spaceport is a facility where rockets can be assembled, tested, launched, and supported, much like airports serve aircraft.

The agency said it is pursuing the development of a Philippine spaceport through a public-private partnership as demand for launch facilities continues to grow worldwide. Existing spaceports are becoming increasingly congested as commercial and government launches accelerate.

PhilSA Director General Gay Jane Perez said the country’s goal is to develop a commercial-driven, government-enabled spaceport with a predictable regulatory system that could attract international launch providers.

“Apart from location, launch companies also take into consideration the approval process: whether it is clear, whether the approvals arrive on a schedule they can plan around, and whether the country meets its international obligations. That reliability is where the Philippines intends to compete, and it marks a shift in the country’s role in the regional space economy, from a user of space services to one that helps provide them,” she added.

Building a spaceport is estimated to cost P17 billion, with private sector investment expected to help finance the project, according to a report by Mark Salazar on "24 Oras" on July 28.

The sounding rocket project is one of several initiatives under the country’s expanding space program.

In June, the Philippine Space Council approved programs to strengthen the country’s sovereign space capabilities, including the Multispectral Unit for Land Assessment (MULA) Constellation Program, which aims to enhance satellite-based disaster monitoring, agriculture, environmental management, and natural resource assessment. The first MULA satellite is targeted for launch as early as April 2027. –VBL, GMA News