what will the first rocket that Brazil launches look like?

Leaving the Alcântara base, the HANBIT-Nano, developed by the private South Korean company Innospace, will mark Brazil’s entry into the global market for commercial space launches, currently dominated by the United States, Europe and China. Operated by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and the military branch of the Brazilian Space Program (PEB), the São Luís Metropolitan Region Aerospace Base will be the scene of Operation Spaceward 2025, a mission that will insert payloads, such as satellites, into space from Brazilian territory.

The launch will involve the participation of 400 professionals, including 300 military personnel. HANBIT-Nano will carry a total of 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 (IoT), an integrated network of intelligent electronic objects.

The rocket will also carry an educational satellite equipped with test versions of technologies such as solar panels and navigation instruments, as well as messages from local public school students, particularly children and youth from Quilombola communities. Pion BR2-Cientistas de Alcântara was developed by the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA) in partnership with the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the startup PION.

Marco Antônio Chamon, president of the AEB, which represents the civil part of the Brazilian space program, emphasizes not only the pioneering nature of the country’s action, but also the strategic importance of the launch, which will give a “free flight” to national research instruments.

— A paradigm shift is occurring with the opening of national bases to private companies, whether Brazilian or foreign — he believes. — Operation Spaceward 2025 will not only give CLA visibility in the private launch market, which attracts investments for national space exploration, but will also serve to launch 100% Brazilian payloads, i.e. satellites and probes, into space.

Chamon explains that, for now, the experiments that will be launched into the Brazilian orbit do not yet belong to the technological elite in the field, but that 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.

Public-private partnership

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.

Tomorrow, HANBIT-Nano should take off at 3 p.m. with a slight inclination towards the East. The reason for this route is to facilitate orbiting, in addition to respecting the international standard for launches of this type, which provides that the takeoff be directed towards the ocean in order to avoid fragments falling to the ground.

The mission carries symbolism since it takes place 20 years after the 2003 accident which 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. This launch also symbolizes Brazil’s search for more autonomy and independence in the sector.

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.

Chamon explains that although Brazil is behind in developing its own aerospace technologies, events such as the launch of HANBIT-Nano help encourage the search for domestic solutions in the future:

— 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)