46 · MT 3/2022 Feature will be the first operational satellite built by Mexico. Also, under another agreement between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Universidad Panamericana of Mexico, signed in 2017, the institutions are planning to send a microsatellite into space late this year. The country also has the satellites Morelos 3 and Bicentenario, built by Boeing, while the Centenario was lost. Peru is operates PeruSat-1, built by Airbus and launched in 2016, while Venezuela has the VRSS-2/Francisco de Miranda satellite, purchased from China and launched in 2012, and in October 2017 added the VRSS-2/Antonio José de Sucre, also built in China. But their first satellite, the VeneSat-1/Simón Bolívar, also Chinese-built and launched in 2008, was lost in early April 2020, despite being expected to serve until 2024. Plans for a VeneSat-2 to replace it were announced shortly before the loss, in January. Paraguay launched its GuaraníSat-1 nanosatellite, developed by the Paraguayan Space Agency, on 20 February 2021 from the International Space Station. Bolivia operates the Tupac Katari I satellite, purchased from China and launched in 2013, and was expected to launch Tupac Katari II in 2021, but the launch did not take place, and no new date has been announced. The first Central American satellite, the cubesat Irazú, was developed in Costa Rica by the Asociación Centroamericana de Aeronáutica y el Espacio (ACAE), the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, the Costa Rican government and private investors, and was deployed from the International Space Station in April 2018. It was followed by the Batsú CS-1 of the same kind and, in March 2019, ACAE announced it is working on a third cubesat, the Morazán, to be developed between the Universidad de Costa Rica, the Universidad San Carlos of Guatemala and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma of Honduras. It was expected to be launched in 2021, but has been delayed to 2023 or 2024. Although the Nicaraguan government announced in 2016 it expected to have two satellites launched in 2017, no progress has been made. The country had also announced in 2013 the Nicasat communications satellite, with an investment of $346 million – far and away more than the country can spend on such an undertaking. Guatemala has also worked on a cubesat project, the Quetzal-1, developed by the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, launched from the International Space Station on 6 March 2020. Currently, there are a number of other projects, but with little current progress and intended only for civil research. Lacking national technological capability, creation a joint venture with a European, Israeli or US company is anticipated. Meanwhile, in November 2018, the Colombian Air Force launched FACSAT-1 from India. Built by GOMspace from Denmark under a contract signed in 2014, this is a 3U-cubesat, with a camera to provide 30m- resolution images from a 505km orbit. The satellite is expected to have a service life of five years, and a second is now in development with GOMspace. Other Efforts The Colombian and Ecuadorian Space Agencies have signed an agreement with Astrobotic to take part in the Astrobotic Lander Peregrine moon exploration mission. The Latin American agencies expect to send their own payloads on some of the missions, starting in 2022 with the Artemis I mission, with cubesats to be inserted in lunar orbit. The Mexican Space Agency, meanwhile, is working, after an agreement with NASA ,on the nanosatellite AzTechSat-1, built by the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, and launched on 5 December 2019 from the International Space Station. This The SAOCOM 1A being tested at CEATSA in July 2018. (Photo: INVAP) The SAOCOM 1B at CEATSA during the final tests. (Photo INVAP) A model of the Brazilian VSB-30 vehicle. (Photo: Santiago Rivas) f
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