Agreement for US to use Alcantara Base in Brazil is signed

During the meeting between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump, the two countries sealed the Technological Safeguards Agreement (AST), which will allow the commercial use of the Alcantara Launch Center in Maranhão by the States. United.

The purpose of this agreement is to protect US technology contained in nearly 80 percent of spacecraft, from ships to satellites. Without the AST signature, none of these devices could be launched from the Alcantara Base, which is situated in a strategic location for rocket and missile launch.

In the hands of the legislature

To enter into force, the AST has yet to be approved by the National Congress, which already barred the document in 2002 because it believed it would hurt the country's sovereignty. The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) defends the approval of the agreement so that Brazil is not left out of the space launch market and claims that this type of document is usual in the space sector.

The [space] sector moved around $ 3 billion, or $ 11.37 billion, in 2017 alone.

The space launch market has grown with the development of private companies that send satellites into Earth's orbit, such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin. The sector moved around $ 3 billion, or $ 11.37 billion, in 2017 alone.

Brazil wants to be part of this launch pad circuit, but it may be allowing access to a privileged strategic takeoff area for US government agencies, which could be considered - and is by many - as a threat to national sovereignty. .

Agreement for US to use Alcantara Base in Brazil is signed via TecMundo