The University of San Carlos received one of four Pandora instruments from the Republic of Korea and the Philippine Space Agency during turnover ceremonies held on August 12, 2024 at the Manila Observatory in Ateneo de Manila University.

The Pandora instrument measures air quality, particularly monitoring concentrations of gaseous pollutants like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, and will serve as a ground-based station to verify data from an environment monitoring spectrometer aboard the Korean GEO-KOMPSAT-2B satellite. 

Three other instruments will be stationed at the Manila Observatory in Quezon City, Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

His Excellency Lee Sang-hwa (Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Philippines) and Kim Eunsub (Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Country Director) turned over the instruments to Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) Director General Joel Joseph S. Marciano Jr., Ph.D. and PhilSA Deputy Director General for Space Science and Technology Gay Jane P. Perez, Ph.D. In turn, PhilSA handed over the instruments to the four institutions that were strategically chosen to provide data to the Pan-Asia Partnership for Geospatial Air Pollution Information Project and the Pandora Asia Network (PAPGAPI-PAN) Philippines Project.

USC Research, Development, Extension, and Publications Office (RDEPO) Director Patrick John Y. Lim, Ph.D. and Department of Physics Assistant Professor Raymond Lee Antonio C. Sarmiento, Ph.D. represented the University during the turnover ceremonies.