Diwata-1

Diwata-1 also known as PHL-Microsat-1 was a Philippine microsatellite launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on March 23, 2016, and was deployed into orbit from the ISS on April 27, 2016. It was the first Philippine microsatellite and the first satellite built and designed by Filipinos. It was followed by Diwata-2, launched in 2018.

Hokkaido University and Tohoku University of Japan initiated a project to send 50 microsatellites into space by 2050. The project will photograph aftermaths of natural disasters, partnering with governments, universities and other organizations based in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Two satellites are commissioned for the Philippine government.

Diwata-1 was the first satellite of the venture made possible through the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) Program, a three-year program funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The program is a collaboration between the University of the Philippines, the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), and Japan's Tohoku University and Hokkaido University. It was initiated in December 2014 by DOST. The satellite was an updated version of the Raijin-2, which was developed by the two Japanese universities.

Uploading of commands to Diwata-1 and downloading of the images were done in the Philippines' very own Philippine Earth Data Resources Observation Center (PEDRO) ground receiving station. Image processing was also performed locally.

There were two Philippine satellites before Diwata-1, Agila-1 and Agila-2 (later renamed ABS-3) but the former was owned and operated by a non-Philippine firm, PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, at the time of its launch and the latter was owned by Mabuhay Satellite Corporation, a private local firm, but later acquired by Asia Broadcast Satellite, a foreign firm.

The government has been availing services from foreign countries for satellite imagery. Carlos Primo David, former executive director of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) called the PHL-Microsat program a "small investment" taking note that in 2013, following the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Typhoon Yolanda), the government had to pay about ₱56 million for satellite imagery of an area affected by the typhoon dubbed as the "Yolanda Corridor". This led to the creation of the PHL-Microsat program.

The satellite was named after a type of divine being from Philippine mythology, the diwata.

A team of nine Filipino engineers from the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) and the University of the Philippines, dubbed the "Magnificent 9", were responsible for the production of Diwata-1 and collaborated with scientists and engineers from the two Japanese universities. They were sent to Japan in October 2015. The assembly and testing of Diwata-1 was completed in December 2015.