It will be a significant milestone for the country’s space aspirations.
On Monday, July 27, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced during his State of the Nation Address that the Philippines is preparing for a rocket launch test in 2027.
According to him, the project is in partnership with a certain South Korean company and will be taking place in the province of Cagayan in Northern Luzon in 2027.
He noted, “Cagayan is both geographically and economically primed to serve as our gateway to space and host the country’s first spaceport. A sounding rocket launch test is slated for next year, in partnership with a South Korean aerospace company.”
“Yes, we are going to launch a rocket into space,” the President declared.
During the 9th Philippine Space Council (PSC) meeting last June, which PBBM presided over, the plans for such were first disclosed, with another layer of detail being that the plan is to launch it from the Lal-lo Airport.
Primarily, the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) noted that it will demonstrate a domestic propellant supply chain, safety procedures and launch authorization for local rocket launches.
Eventually, these will lead toward the establishment and operation of a Philippine spaceport.
Meanwhile, in a post on Facebook, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Administrator Katrina Ponce Enrile shared that the said initiative is a partnership between their agency, the PhilSA, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Ascend International Gateway, Inc., and their Korean partner, Perigee Aerospace.
“Ours has never been merely an advocacy. It has been a close and purposeful collaboration built on mutual trust, technical expertise, shared determination, and a common belief that the Philippines possesses the natural advantages to become a strategic gateway to space for the region,” she told.
She also emphasized that the project is more about “ensuring that the Philippines is not left behind in one of the world’s fastest-growing frontiers,” on top of creating opportunities in aerospace, advanced engineering, scientific research, education, innovation, and high-value investments.
However, she withheld further information regarding the project such as timelines, implementation milestones, and other operational details.
“This has always been about more than building a spaceport,” Ponce Enrile emphasized. “It has always been about ensuring that the Philippines claims its rightful place in the next frontier of human innovation, with Cagayan proudly serving as our nation’s gateway to that future.“
