{"id":241198,"date":"2021-05-03T19:06:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/latin-america-looks-to-space-despite-limitations-on-ground-2\/"},"modified":"2021-05-03T19:06:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:06:20","slug":"latin-america-looks-to-space-despite-limitations-on-ground-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/latin-america-looks-to-space-despite-limitations-on-ground-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#Latin America looks to space, despite limitations on ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Latin America looks to space, despite limitations on ground<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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MEXICO CITY \u2014\u00a0Mars missions<\/a>, astronauts\u00a0coming and going<\/a>\u00a0at the International Space Station, China\u2019s increasingly ambitious\u00a0space program<\/a>. Space-related news<\/a> is flowing, and not just from the world\u2019s richest, biggest nations. Take Latin America.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 17, the congress in Nicaragua, one of the region\u2019s poorest, most conflict-prone nations,\u00a0approved a law<\/a>\u00a0creating a space agency. Costa Rica, known for relative growth and stability, did\u00a0the same<\/a>\u00a0on Feb. 18, the day that the NASA rover Perseverance landed on Mars to look for signs of ancient life.<\/p>\n

The potential benefits of space are tantalizing for many countries with scarce resources. Satellite technology<\/a>, international partnerships, national pride and local development all beckon. Inevitably, critics suspect a boondoggle, a vanity project, a diversion from pressing problems on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, the type of eyebrow raised regarding the announcement of a Nicaragua space program is similar to whenever an African country announces a space program. People always question why it makes sense, especially since these countries are battling several socioeconomic problems,\u201d Temidayo Oniosun, managing director of\u00a0Space in Africa<\/a>, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, most developing countries are primarily interested\u2033 in space technologies to address developmental challenges, Oniosun said. Some want a communications satellite \u201dbecause it brings an excellent investment return and helps close the digital divide challenges. It is why you rarely see a developing country say they are doing space explorations (Moon, Mars, etc.) and stuff,\u2033 he said.<\/p>\n

The growth of the commercial space industry and prospects for global internet access from satellite constellations could increasingly help countries that lack coverage. Satellite data can also guide crop-growing, help industry and natural disaster management and track weather and other conditions linked to disease.<\/p>\n

Nicaragua, whose government cracked down hard on the political opposition, isn\u2019t a newcomer to space ambitions. An old deal with China years ago for the deployment of a communications satellite is delayed. In 2017, Russia opened a facility in Nicaragua as part of a satellite navigation system; Nicaragua\u00a0denied<\/a>\u00a0it was for spying on the region or the United States.<\/p>\n

Nicaragua seems aware of skepticism about its new, military-run \u2019\u2019National Secretariat for the Affairs of Outer Space, the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.\u2033<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students walks past the Solar Astronomical Observatory in San Jose, Costa Rica, Friday, April 30, 2021. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not how they have wanted to manipulate it,\u2033 pro-government legislator Jenny Mart\u00ednez said in congress, without elaborating on critics\u2019 comments. She said more than 50 countries have agencies dedicated to space matters. Nicaragua has been a member since 1994 of the\u00a0United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space<\/a>, which oversees treaties governing space law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Nicaragua needs to send something into space to be a part of the forum,\u2033 said Carlos Arturo V\u00e9lez, an Ecuadorian lawyer studying at the\u00a0International Institute of Air and Space Law<\/a>\u00a0at Leiden University in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing something wrong in outer space could affect any country in the world,\u2033 for example if satellite debris crashes to Earth and causes damage and casualties, V\u00e9lez said.<\/p>\n

Ecuador launched a satellite, Pegaso, in 2013 with fanfare and Chinese help, but it was damaged a month later. Some accounts said the cause was debris from an old Russian rocket.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Costa Rica\u2019s space ambitions say its new agency can contribute to technologies used on Earth, as well as give Costa Rica a say in international space policy and agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people criticized the creation of NASA in 1958 when the United States was struggling with the worst economic recession of the postwar era,\u2033 Franklin Chang D\u00edaz, a Costa Rica-born U.S. citizen who became a NASA astronaut,\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The incredible feat of putting a person on the moon, he said, \u2019\u2019sometimes eclipses the most significant\u2033 thing about NASA\u2019s creation: The enormous technological and economic benefits that followed. Chang D\u00edaz is the chairman and CEO of the\u00a0Ad Astra Rocket Company<\/a>, based in Texas.<\/p>\n

Last week, California-based LeoLabs, Inc.\u00a0announced that a new radar site<\/a>\u00a0was operational in Costa Rica to track objects in low Earth orbit and deliver data. The country\u2019s first satellite, Iraz\u00fa, was launched with help from a SpaceX rocket in 2018 to monitor its tropical forests and climate change. It was partly funded with a Kickstarter campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising\u201d that Costa Rica passed a space agency law and hopefully Guatemala will do the same, said Katherinne Herrera, a biochemistry and microbiology student at the University of the Valley of Guatemala who heads a university club dedicated to space science<\/a> and engineering.<\/p>\n

A country needs \u2019\u2019public policies that support space initiatives\u2033 and \u2019\u2019help achieve different objectives in the area of research,\u2033\u00a0Herrera<\/a>\u00a0wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

Guatemala\u2019s first satellite, Quetzal-1, was deployed by Japan last year and was operated by a team from the university where Herrera is studying. The project unfolded in a country whose problems have compelled many citizens to look for a better life elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Bolivia\u2019s space agency got caught up in the country\u2019s recent political turmoil. The new government accused its interim predecessor of hobbling operations at the agency, which was set up in 2010 by then-President Evo Morales.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s science and technology minister, Marcos Pontes, is a former astronaut who trained with NASA, and Chile is home to giant telescopes. Now Mexico and Argentina are leading efforts to form a regional space agency. The African Union also plans a\u00a0space agency<\/a>, to be based in Egypt. The\u00a0European Space Agency<\/a>, which uses a rocket launch site in French Guiana on South America\u2019s northeast coast, was established in 1975.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s Congress on Monday hosted\u00a0an international panel<\/a>\u00a0on the outlook for a \u2019\u2019new space race\u2033 and what it can do for health, education and other fields. Sen. Beatriz Paredes Rangel put it in existential terms, saying it was time to stop dwelling on Earth-bound debates of the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future is in our hands and if we\u2019re not a part of it, we will disapp<\/a>ear or waste the opportunity to play a relevant role in the construction of the future,\u201d she said.\n <\/p><\/div>\n