After five postponements, Brazil launches its first commercial rocket in its history; watch the video

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The operation was initially scheduled for November. However, it has been postponed five times – four since Tuesday last week. According to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), the launch window – the period during which the rocket rises and enters orbit with a trajectory free of orbiting radars, without space debris or other obstacles – would close this Monday.

The HANBIT-Nano carries eight devices – seven Brazilian and one Indian – defined as “experiments”. Among them are two nanosatellites developed by the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), which will allow the study of a low-energy communication system used in the application of the Internet of Things, an integrated network of intelligent electronic objects.

The rocket also carries an educational satellite equipped with test versions of technologies such as solar panels and navigation instruments, as well as messages from students in the local public network, quilombola communities.

According to Marco Antônio Chamon, president of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), which represents the civil part of the Brazilian space program, the experiments that will be launched into Brazilian orbit do not yet belong to the technological elite in the field, but they already represent an advance in national exploration and offer new research methods, even if they are considered small devices.

— We are not talking about satellites capable of transmitting television programs to national television, but rather the possibility of transmitting a signal in space which will be repeated and picked up by a ground station, usually located at the university itself, — he explains. — We are talking about cubes measuring up to 10 cm in height, width and depth and weighing between one and three kilograms.

The dynamics of Operation Spaceward in Alcântara involve cooperation between the public and private sectors. The base is military and all its systems, from doors to antennas and control panels, are operated by Brazilian FAB officers. The South Korean company was responsible for bringing the disassembled rocket to the country with a team of engineers for assembly and its own verification systems.

The AEB acts as the regulatory entity responsible for granting licenses, which are granted even before the company signs a takeoff contract, and for the inspection of the rocket and the assembled structure, carried out on the eve of the operation.

The operation takes place 20 years after the 2003 accident that killed 21 civil technicians and engineers in Alcântara. At the time, the Brazilian VLS-1 rocket was undergoing final adjustments for takeoff when premature ignition of one of the engines caused a fire and the explosion of the structure.

Over the past two years, the federal government has updated the publications that guide Brazilian space exploration: the Strategic Space Systems Program (PESE), which regulates the military development of aerospace technology, and the National Space Activities Program (PNAE), which guides the planning of civil exploration in the sector. Both editions have increased their funding for the development of their own technologies compared to previous editions.

According to Chamon, despite Brazil’s delay in developing its own aerospace technologies, the country must seek more autonomy and independence in the sector:

— We have not yet completely mastered rocket manufacturing and we do not have our own weather satellites, which would be good.

(*Intern under the supervision of Luã Marinatto)