The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) conducted a test flight for its TALA hybrid rocket, which successfully lifted off at 11:57 PHST (03:57 UTC) on 20 May from the Crow Valley Gunnery Range near Clark Air Force Base, north of Manila.
The rocket successfully deployed its Can Satellite (CanSat) payload before a soft descent via parachute. It has since been retrieved by the rocket team to collect and analyze launch data.
According to PhilSA, the launch aims to stimulate space science and technology applications research as a way of innovating and developing the country's own space assets "for research, exploration, and commercial activities."
TALA's test flight concludes the agency's Space Technology Applications Exhibit and school tour in the province of Tarlac, where the launch site was located. A previous launch attempt last 19 May was scrubbed due to bad weather.
Hybrid fuel, local origins
The launch team is composed of students of St. Cecilia's College - Cebu, under the mentorship of Wilfredo Pardorla, Jr. and Almida Plarisan, with the assistance of the Philippine Air Force's 710th Special Operations Wing, Air Force Research and Development Center, Air Force Systems Engineering Office, and 950th Cyberspace and Electronic Warfare Wing, among others.
TALA is a sounding rocket that uses both solid fuel and liquid oxidizer. PhilSA stated that the choice of fuel makes handling, shipping, and storage of the rocket safer and cheaper to manufacture.
The CanSat payload is simulated soda can-sized satellite designed to gather environmental data through built-in sensors.
"Sending CanSats to higher altitudes via hybrid-propellant rockets is a cost-effective way to further enrich space R&D in the country," Plarisan said.
Launch delays
TALA was developed in 2018 under the Philippine Department of Science and Technology's (DOST) Young Innovators Program. The rocket was originally supposed to launch in March 2020 at Mati City Airport on the island of Mindanao but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, PhilSA reactivated the project in conjunction with the Philippine Air Force and the DOST's Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).
