Maya-3 & Maya-4

Maya-3 and Maya-4 are the first Philippine university-built satellites designed and developed by the first batch of scholars under the Space Technology and Applications Mastery, Innovation, and Advancement (STAMINA4Space) Program: Project 3 - Space Science and Technology Proliferation through University Partnerships (STeP-UP), funded and supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) with scholarship grants from its Science Education Institute (SEI). The STeP-UP Project is implemented by the University of the Philippines-Diliman in collaboration with the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan.

Mission
The Maya-3 and Maya-4 cube satellites (or CubeSats) use the heritage bus of Maya-1, which was built as part of the BIRDS Project ¹". The Maya-3 and Maya-4 CubeSats are mostly identical with only difference in a mission, that is the Near-infrared camera is mounted only on the Maya-4 satellite. Their missions are as follows:
  1. Demonstration of image and video capture of RGB Camera using a 5MP commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) RGB camera.
  2. Demonstration of Near-Infrared camera (NIR) - a repurposed RGB camera module, for Maya-4 cube satellite.
  3. COTS Automatic Packet Reporting System - Digipeater (APRS-DP) payload on cubesat for technology demonstration. APRS-DP provides a digital message relay service to the amateur radio community by means of an onboard APRS digipeater. The APRS digipeater will receive from and digipeat an APRS message/packet to any licensed ham on footprint with APRS-capable handheld or station radio.
  4. Demonstration of ground data acquisition using Store and Forward (S&F) capability of the cubesat. This allows collection of data from remote ground sensors such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, etc., stores them onboard, and downloads them to STeP-UP ground stations.
  5. Detection of and protection from Single Event Latch-up (SEL) due to space radiation.
  6. Demonstration of a COTS Global Positioning System (GPS) module.
  7. Magnetic field measurement in space using an Anisotropic Magnetoresistance Sensor (AMR-MM).
¹The Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Project or BIRDS is a cross-border interdisciplinary satellite project led by Kyutech that aids non-space faring countries in satellite development. The Philippines has taken part during its second (BIRDS-2) and fourth (BIRDS-4) iterations.
Technical OVerview
Class
Cube Satellite (Cubesat)
Mass
1.15kg
Type
Technology Demonstration
Dimensions
10cm × 10cm × 11.35cm (Stowed State)
Orbit
Low Earth
Payloads

Maya-3: RGB Camera, Automatic Packet Reporting System Message Digipeater (APRS-DP) Payload, Global Positioning System (GPS) Chip, Anisotropic Magnetoresistance Sensor

Maya-4: RGB Camera, Near-Infrared (NIR) Camera, Automatic Packet Reporting System Message Digipeater (APRS-DP) Payload, Global Positioning System (GPS) Chip, Anisotropic Magnetoresistance Sensor

Launch
Target: 2021
Release
To be determined
Mission
  • Demonstration of Ground Data Acquisition using Store and Forward (S&F mission)
  • Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) APRS-Digipeater Payload Demonstration on Cubesat (APRS-DP mission)
  • Image and Video Capture (RGB CAM mission)
  • Demonstration of Near-Infrared camera (NIR CAM mission), for Maya-4 only
  • GPS Chip Demonstration (GPS mission)
  • Detection of and protection from Single Event Latch-up due to space radiation (SEL mission)
  • Magnetic Field Measurement in Space using an Anisotropic Magnetoresistance Sensor (AMR-MM mission)
Status
Turned over to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) last April 28, 2021; waiting for official launch date
Maya-3 and Maya-4 timeline
Follow Maya-3's and Maya-4's space journey.