To boldly go where no Filipinos have gone before. With our country’s latest space agency, that Star Trek quote will be our future pretty soon.

Here is some good news for people in the STEM field. On Monday, the Senate approved Bill 1983 or the Act Establishing the Philippine Space Development and Utilization Policy and Creating the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) on its third and final reading.

The bill’s bound to lead us closer to the cosmos. But for now, PhilSA will focus on bringing “new perspective and valuable insights that could help solve some of the country’s biggest problems.” We’re talking about coping with natural disasters and not losing our collective shits when calamities go down.

“Satellites can improve disaster management, from providing accurate information that allows early warnings and predicting of disasters to reliable and quick communication during relief and recovery operations,” Senator Bam Aquino, the author and sponsor of the bill, tells Philippine News Agency.

Having a space agency will also enhance our agribusiness sector. Through space technology, soil and weather can be monitored and assessed. The space agency will also look into improving urban planning, transportation, and communication networks.

Don’t fret, aspiring astronauts. We’re still aiming for outer space. During approval, Aquino hopes “the proposed legislation would propel the Philippines to be space-capable in the next decade.”

Philippine News Agency reports the PhilSA office will be located at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga and Tarlac. Expect more launch sites and additional research areas to be popping up in the near future. Until then, we can hope that our sci-fi fantasies may become a reality.

Maybe we can trade our desk jobs for spacesuits if all goes well. Is it too late to switch courses or change career paths now?

Art by Renz Mart Reyes