UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
Table 7.4: National space agencies and main national space technology suppliers in Latin America
Country Institution English name Founded Specialization
Argentina
Argentina
Comisión Nacional de
Investigaciones Espaciales
(CNIE)
Comisión Nacional de
Actividades Espaciales
(CONAE)
National
Commission for
Space Research
National Space
Activities
Commission
Argentina INVAP Public company in
nuclear and space
technologies
Bolivia
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil
Colombia
Agencia Boliviana Espacial
(ABE)
Comissão Nacional de
Atividades Espaciais (CNAE)
Agência Espacial Brasileira
(AEB)
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas
Espaciais (INPE)
Comisión Colombiana del
Espacio (CCE)
Bolivian Space
Agency
National
Commission of
Space Activities
Brazilian Space
Agency
National Institute of
Space Research
Colombian Space
Commission
1960–1991 Propulsion systems and rocket development; projects
CONDOR I & II, capacity-building
1991 Design and planning of the space programme, operation
of the Cordoba Space Centre, capacity-building. Design
of satellites SAC-A, SAC-B, SAC-C, SAC-D/Aquarius,
SAOCOM 1 & 2, SABIA-MAR, SARE and propulsion systems
TRONADOR I & II
1976 Technology design and construction of the satellites SAC-
A, SAC-B, SAC-C, SAC-D/Aquarius, SAOCOM 1 & 2, SABIA-
MAR, SARE, ARSAT I, II & III
2012 Tupak Katari (2013), a communication satellite developed
in China
1963–1971 Space propulsion studies, several rocket launchings,
remote sensing analysis, capacity-building
1994 Design and planning of the satellites CBERS (Sino-
Brazilian Earth Resources Satellite), Amazônia-1 (2015),
EQUARS, MIRAX, SCD1, SCD2
1971 Construction and technological design of the satellites
SCD-1, CBERS (see AEB), Amazônia-1 (2015), EQUARS,
MIRAX, Satélite Cientifíco Lattes, Satélite GPM–Brasil,
SARE, SABIA-MAIS
2006 Planning for space applications
Costa Rica
Asociación Centroamericana
de Aeronáutica y el Espacio
(ACAE)
Central American
Association for
Aeronautics and
Space
2010 Planning for space applications; design of a picosat
satellite project (2016)
Mexico*
Agencia Espacial Mexicana
(AEM)
Mexican Space
Agency
2010 Planning for space research and applications
Peru
Agencia Espacial del Perú
(CONIDA)
Space Agency of
Peru
1974 Planning for space research and applications
Uruguay
Centro de Investigación y
Difusión Aeronáutico-Espacial
(CIDA-E)
Aeronautics and
Space Research and
Diffusion Centre
1975 Space research and popularization
Venezuela
Agencia Bolivariana para
Actividades Espaciales (ABAE)
Bolivarian Agency
for Space Activities
2008 Planning for space research and popularization
* In 1991, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) started building scientific satellites. The first (UNAMSAT-1) was destroyed during the launch in
1996; UNAMSAT-B operated in orbit for one year.
Note: For details of the CBERS programme, see the chapter on Brazil in the UNESCO Science Report 2010.
Source: Compiled by author
As of August 2015, construction of the controversial shipping
route had not yet commenced.
The complex nature of sustainable development, in
which biogeophysical, economic and social processes
tend to overlap, demands a transdisciplinary approach to
implementing the regional research agenda (Lemarchand,
2010), combined with new financial schemes to support
related R&D at the regional level and capacity-building in
sustainability science (Komiyama et al., 2011).
In the past two decades, the publication of scientific articles
on topics related to sustainable development has grown 30%
faster in Latin America than in the rest of the world. This trend
underlines the growing interest in sustainability science in
Latin America. However, there is currently a lack of graduate
programmes in Latin America (and elsewhere) in sustainability
science. In 2015, the United Nations University in Tokyo
launched the world’s first PhD programme in sustainability
science. Universities in Latin America should also develop PhD
programmes in this new interdisciplinary field.
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