Davao Region is poised to become a countrywide aerospace hub, an adviser of the rocketry team from Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) said Wednesday.

Dr. Rogel Mari Sese, chair of the AdDU Aerospace Engineering (ASE) department and lead advisor of the rocketry team, said that based on their analysis, the region is the best place in the country to launch rockets into space.

“In our study before, when we talked about the space industry, we found that a launch facility is one of the biggest infrastructures a country can have. This also involves the growth of other industries, such as manufacturing, which we hope to bring to the region in the future,” Sese said in a press briefing here.

The eagerness to establish the region as an aerospace hub came after Sese and the AdDU Rocketry Team successfully launched rocket “Sibol” during the 7th annual Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico, United States of America, on June 22.

The Spaceport America Cup 2024 is the world’s largest Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition for student rocketry teams, with around 200 teams from 20 countries participating.

As the first Filipino team to compete in the prestigious Spaceport America Cup, the AdDU Rocketry Team ignited the engines of “Sibol” and sent it soaring into the skies, with its 9.7-foot height reaching a target altitude of 10,000 feet.

“In my past work, I led the National Space Development Program under the Department of Science and Technology. Our primary goal was to establish the Philippine Space Agency and the Philippine Space Utilization Policy, which came into fruition in 2019,” Sese said.

He said there is already significant interest in the Davao region as a potential aerospace hub and a future hub for astro-tourism.

“We call it like it’s a Philippines gateway to the stars,” Sese added. (PNA)