PH prepares for 1st rocket test launch next year

Filipino engineers participate in Phase 1 of the Know-How Transfer and Training Program on Small Launch Vehicles, conducted in partnership with Perigee Aerospace from October to November 2025 in South Korea, as part of efforts to advance the country’s rocket launch capabilities. —PHOTO FROM PHILSA

The Philippines may soon have its own booming spaceport, similar to that of Cape Canaveral in the United States, where more than 100 rockets are launched annually.

In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, President Marcos said the country will be launching a rocket into space next year—the first liquid-fueled sounding rocket launch on Philippine soil.

Set at Cagayan North International Airport in La-lo town, Cagayan, in early 2027, it will help advance the country’s launch capabilities, develop Filipino expertise in rocket technologies and prepare for future space launch activities, according to the Philippine Space Agency.

The sounding rocket test launch shall be a demonstration flight of a liquid-fueled rocket from the Philippines, carrying a locally developed payload weighing up to two kilograms to an altitude of at least five kilometers.

Sounding rockets are small research vehicles designed to launch experiments and study atmospheric conditions in a short-duration flight toward the edge of space, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

They are different from orbital rockets that carry astronauts or scientific cargo and satellites, which require a velocity of at least 7.8 km per second and an elevation of 150 km.