space activities in south america: a proposal for a specific regional small satellite project
- Paper number
IAC-13,E7,5,x17657
- Author
Dr. Sylvia Ospina, S. Ospina & Associates - Consultants, United States
- Year
2013
- Abstract
Most South American countries have a research center, space commission or space agency to promote national space activities. These range from launching experimental rockets and exploratory spacecraft, to universities engaged in building small satellites. Most of these countries, however, depend on several international satellite systems for their communications (Intelsat, SES, Telesat, Hispasat, inter alia), as well as for earth observation images and data for geographic information systems (GIS) systems (LANDSAT, SPOT, CBERS and others). Several countries have their own national spacecraft (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and in 2014, Bolivia), while others aspire to have a national satellite for communications and/or earth observation. Given the perennial shortage of funds, scarce financial and people resources that most if not all space agencies face, would it make sense to explore the possibility of pooling together their resources and native talent, of working on a specific project that would benefit the region? Could a multi-university-based small satellite project, with a specific focus, such as monitoring deforestation or water resources, serve as a pilot project in regional cooperation? Such a cooperative project was suggested by the Brazilian representative during the Seminar on Space Law, sponsored by the UNOOSA, Argentina’s CONAE, and ESA, that was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November 2012. While it may be difficult to obtain the agreement of 12 countries to work on a regional venture, it could be achieved by combining certain resources, and if there were sufficient political will (and funds). In addition to financial issues, however, several questions of a legal nature would be raised: national sovereignty, liability, even registration of the spacecraft. These issues would have to be decided by the governments of the countries involved in the regional pilot project. Other issues that would have to be addressed pertain to the management and execution of the project: which entities (government or private, or a mixture of both), which country or countries, or universities would be in charge of the project? What kind of bilateral or multilateral agreements would be needed? Does it matter that not all countries have ratified the principal treaties dealing with outer space, and that most of them do not have laws related to space activities? This paper will explore the feasibility of implementing a university-based regional cooperative satellite project in South America.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)