Category: Brazilian Space Agency

Brazil, Japan to Cooperate on Micro- and Nanosats

Brazilian Space Agency, nanosats, News 0

AEB PR — A Japanese delegation comprising representatives of the embassy, ​​academia and research was received yesterday (21/09), the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), the director of the Satellite, Applications and Development (Dsad) Thyrso Villela, and the chief Advisor for International Cooperation (ACI), José Montserrat Filho. The main theme of the meeting was the possibility of joint development of micro / nanosatellites.

According to the Japanese delegation miniaturization of satellites is already a worldwide trend in two respects. The first is the low cost of manufacture. While the medium-large can cost anywhere from $ 200 to $ 500 million, small businesses are in the range of $ 2 to $ 5 million, which represents one-hundredth the price.

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Emerging Powers Brazil, India Look To Space Cooperation

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AEB PR — The two emerging powers need to define forms and fields of cooperation in space. The full awareness of this growing need was clear during a meeting of  Ambassador of India, BS Prakash, the President of the Brazilian Space Agency, Professor Marco Antonio Raupp, on Tuesday.

Outline was agreed by the end of the year, the concrete fields of cooperation to be effective, based on mutual interests and participation of companies from both countries. It was also agreed to devote special attention to the program in future meetings Satellite IBSA forum approved by India, Brazil and South Africa. The technical characteristics of these satellites have begun to be developed.

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VLS-1 Launch Complex Readied at Alcantara

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IAE PR — System Platform Release VLS-1 (SISPLAT) is nearing completion at the Alcantara Launch Center (CLA). The panels are already physically installed, the installed lighting, cameras installed Closed Circuit TV system, air conditioning and pressurization installed, Detection and Alarm Fire Fighting in the final stage, a protection system against lightning strikes in the final stage. According to the schedule of the Consortium JARAGUÁ / LAVITTA, will start next October to start tweaking and testing the installation of the automation system.

These activities will take place until late December or early January 2012. Concluded this phase is planned to integrate the mock-up (MIR), to receive the final piece in the months of March and April. This integration is only possible in March because it is the same mock-up that is in separation tests.

Ukraine Defense Minister Guarantees $250 Million for Joint Rocket Effort

Brazil, Brazilian Space Agency, News, Ukraine 0
Ukraine's Cyclone rocket

Brazilian Ministry of Defense PR — On a visit to the Brazilian Ministry of Defense, Defense Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Yezhel Bronislavovych, said today that Ukraine is transferring its part of investment in Alcântara Cyclone Space (ACS), a binational company created to market business services from rocket and satellite Maranhão.

“We have the resources of U.S. $250 million to be invested from October. We are also open to transfer technology to a new satellite launcher, the Cyclone 5, which will be produced jointly with Brazil,” he said.

The Brazilian Defense Minister, Celso Amorim, said that ACS is a strategic project for Brazil.

“Most of the program is under the control of the Brazilian Space Agency, the Defense Ministry has only a small share, but the promised contribution is excellent news, which bodes well for technological cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

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Brazil, Ukraine Deepen Space Cooperation

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Ukraine's Cyclone rocket

AEB PR — The space cooperation between Brazil and Ukraine has taken another important step. It was extremely productive meeting held on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB)  between, headed by its chairman, Marco Antonio Raupp, delegation visits and SDO Yuzhnoye Company of Ukraine, led by its director general, Alexander Degtyarev. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Institute of Aeronautics and Space Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs (SAE) and Alcântara Cyclone Space Company (ACS).

The meeting continued the understandings started during the visit of Brazilian technical committee, headed by the President of AEB, in early July, the Ukrainian industries involved in the program of bi-national company ACS, which will promote launches of Cyclone-4 rocket, Ukraine from the center of Alcantara, Brazil, introducing a safe and economical alternative in the global market for commercial launches.

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Alcântara: The Spaceport of the Future?

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Charles de Gaulle -- not one of Brazil's biggest fans.

“Brazil is the country of the future…and always will be.”

So wryly observed Charles de Gaulle decades ago, marveling at how South America’s largest country, blessed with enormous resources and an industrious population, was forever failing to live up to enormous potential.

Brazil seems to be on the verge of ending that cycle. Economic and political reforms of the past decade have put the nation firmly on the path to becoming a regional and global power. During the next five years, Brazil will shine on the global stage as it hosts two of the world’s greatest sporting events, the Summer Olympics and the soccer World Cup.

And yet amid the optimism, the nation’s future is clouded by a lack of trained workers, a critical shortage of investments in key areas, and an often disorganized government. Nowhere are these shortcomings more apparent than in the nation’s space program and, in particular, its efforts to turn its sleepy Alcântara Launch Center into a world-class spaceport.

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Frustrated Brazilian Space Research Director Stepping Down

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The director of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Gilberto Câmara, has announced that he will step down from his post later this year, about two years before the end of his term.

“I left the space agency is due to the exhaustion caused by the daily struggle with legislation and institutional structures totally inadequate to institutions of S & T. Adding to the frustration at the lack of renewal of the staff by INPE,” Câmara said in a statement.

The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo attributes Câmara’s decision to “differences with the leadership of the Brazilian space program and a break with the president of the AEB (Brazilian Space Agency), Marco Antonio Raupp” over the future of a joint rocket project with Ukraine and a proposed merger of AEB and INPE.

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This Week on The Space Review: The Rocket Boys From Brazil

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The Russo-Brazilian Southern Cross rocket family with the Ukrainian Cyclone-4 (third from right).

My analysis of the Brazilian space program:

Will a new space power rise along the Atlantic?

Brazil is making a major push to turn its equatorial spaceport into a major hub of launch activity. Doug Messier reports on the various initiatives underway and the challenges the country faces to join the ranks of the world’s space powers.

And the rest:

The evolving ecosystem of NewSpace

When most people think of NewSpace, visions of space tourism and low-cost launchers come to mind. Jeff Foust examines several entrepreneurial space companies that are instead working on technologies that could enable or be enabled by improved access to space.

Of ships and space

Why has the retirement of the shuttle resonated with the general public so much? Stewart Money discusses how the shuttle, unlike spacecraft before or after it, captured the essence of being a ship.

An enduring value proposition for NASA human spaceflight (part 2)

What value does NASA provide to the nation? In the second part of her analysis, Mary Lynne Dittmar argues that value, not widely recognized, is more fundamental than human space exploration.

After the shuttle era, space exploration continues and thrives

Space advocates find themselves having to fight the perception that the end of the shuttle program means “the end” of NASA itself. Lou Friedman says that today is a vibrant time for space exploration, even if those accomplishments aren’t often recognized.

Canada, Brazil to Cooperate on Space, S&T and Education

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Canadian Prime Minister held talks with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff during a state visit to the South American nation this week. The leaders agreed to cooperate in a broad range of areas, including space exploration, science and technology, and educational exchanges.

An excerpt from the official joint statement statement follows, with the full statement reproduced after it:

They affirmed their desire to initiate a Space Cooperation Dialogue and instructed the appropriate agencies and institutions in the two countries to explore possible avenues for cooperation in the use of outer space for peaceful purposes.

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Brazilian Space Agency Overhaul Raises Union Hackles

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Exame.com.br reports that the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) President Marcus Antonio Raupp’s bold effort to overhaul and consolidate the nation’s fractured space effort is meeting opposition from a key union worried that the change will outsource their jobs to private industry.

The Union of Civil Servants in the Federal Science and Technology (SindCT) is not happy with the restructuring of the Brazilian space program being promoted by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The proposal, which would have been taken to Mercadante minister by the president of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), Marco Antonio Raupp, provides for the merger of AEB with the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and thus creating a new body to run the program….

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AEB President Wants to Triple Brazilian Space Budget

Brazilian Space Agency, News 0

Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) President Marco Antonio Raupp wants his budget tripled from 300 million reals ($191 million) to 900 million reals ($573 million) as part of an ambitious overhaul of the nation’s space effort.

In an address last week to the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), Raupp said the increased budget is necessary to carrying Brazil’s National Program of Space Activities (PNAE), a five-year plan now being revised.

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