Programa Internacional de Lançamento de Satélites do Atlântico será apresentado na Conferência Internacional de Astronáutica

(available only in Portuguese)

The Atlantic International Satellite Launch Program will be presented this Tuesday at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which runs from October 1 to 5 in Bremen, Germany. The program, whose Call was launched by FCT and EMA on September 24 in the Azores, will be presented by the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, in a session organized by ESA.

 Portugal is represented at a stand organized by FCT in conjunction with the Regional Government of the Azores and A&D, which will feature several Portuguese companies and research institutions. The Program will also be promoted at the stand, which has it as its main theme.

The potential development of a spaceport in the Atlantic aims to stimulate a new generation of space activities based on small satellites. It aims to expand the existing satellite monitoring and tracking facilities on the island of Santa Maria and open up a new generation of launcher services and space activities based on small satellites for the benefit of society as a whole. It takes into account the unique location of the Azores in the Atlantic and its centrality in relation to Europe, the Americas, and Africa, with the goal of initiating new launches starting in 2021.

This initiative also aims to stimulate a new response to the growing demand for the use of small satellites for a variety of purposes, including telecommunications and space-based internet, but also Earth observation applications, including agriculture and fisheries, infrastructure monitoring, urban development, and security, among others—a market that has been estimated by various international sources to be worth several billion euros over the next decade. This initiative also aims to stimulate the creation of skilled jobs and new business projects with greater added value in association with the "New Space Industries," along with the need to accelerate security and protection initiatives involving the use of micro, mini, and small satellites.

 The International Atlantic Satellite Launch Program is being launched based on a three-phase process, which now begins with consulting the international market in order to attract foreign direct investment to support the revitalization of the space sector in Portugal. This process will be implemented by a High-Level International Commission, with national and foreign experts, coordinated by Jean Jacques Dordain, former Director General of ESA, and including, among others, Dava Newman (Co-Director of the MIT-Portugal Program and former Deputy Administrator of NASA) and Brian Tapley (Founder of the Space Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin).