Rocket deal all set for take-off as soon as US and Brazil agree

BRAZIL is ready to launch small commercial rockets from its space base near the equator as soon as it agrees to safeguard US technology that is dominant in the industry, the Brazilian Air Force officer managing the space programme said on Friday.

Brigadier-Major Luiz Fernando Aguiar said Brazil wants to get a piece of the $300 billiona-year (R4.47 trillion) space launch business by drawing US companies interested in launching small satellites at a lower cost from the Alcantara base on its north coast.

“The micro-satellite market is most attractive today and we are interested in the 50 to 500kg niche,” said Aguiar at the base’s main launch pad.

“We are developing a rocket for micro-satellites. For that, this tower is totally ready.”

Space co-operation between the US and Brazil took a big step forward when they signed a Space Situational Awareness agreement last month during a visit to Brasilia by US Defence Secretary James Mattis.

The accord on sharing real-time tracking data on objects and debris in space is needed to develop a satellite launching business without the risk of collision.

In December, Boeing and Lockheed Martin visited the Alcantara space centre, which is especially attractive to smaller firms such as Tucson, Arizona-based rocket-maker Vector Launch, because its equatorial location cuts fuel costs by a third allowing heavier payloads.

But Brazil’s plan to become a new hub in the space industry will depend on concluding a technology safeguard agreement (TSA) with the US to protect sensitive American space launch and satellite technology, Aguiar said. Without it, no US rocket can blast off from the South American country.

A previous attempt at a US-Brazilian space partnership was scuttled in 2003 when the TSA ran into resistance from the leftist government of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and was thwarted by Brazilian lawmakers.

Aguiar said that agreement floundered because it allowed the US unverified access to the Alcantara base that was not acceptable on sovereignty grounds. A new Brazilian proposal under consideration by the US government will be more “palatable” to the Brazilian Congress.

The TSA is seen by Washington as opening opportunities for greater co-operation in aerospace and defence between the two countries.