BRASILIA--U.S. companies eager to tap into the fast-growing market for low-cost satellite launches could become the first customers when Brazil's Alcantara space center near the equator opens as a commercial spaceport, executives and Brazilian officials said.
Aerospace titans Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp in December visited the Alcantara space center, but the Brazilian space agency's launch site is especially attractive to smaller firms because its equatorial location cuts fuel costs by a third.
Still, Brazil's aim of becoming a hot new hub in the space industry will depend on negotiating a technology safeguards agreement (TSA) with the United States to protect sensitive American space launch and satellite technology. Without it, no U.S. rocket can blast off from the South American country.
Brazil wants to attract customers by marketing itself as the cheaper alternative to Kourou, the European spaceport in neighboring French Guiana, which mostly launches big satellites. Brazilian officials are hoping to complete a U.S. TSA this year that would facilitate the opening of the commercial spaceport.
On Feb. 22, U.S. and Brazilian government representatives, along with space companies from both countries, held a conference call with a White House official who was asked whether the Trump administration would agree to a TSA with Brazil, according to a person on the call. "We are encouraged that Brazilian officials have expressed an interest in working more closely with the United States in the space sector," a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council said. She gave no further details.
The safeguard accord could be ready this year if the U.S. State Department gets negotiating permission, according to industry representatives.
Tucson, Arizona-based Vector Launch Inc, which specializes in small rockets, appears eager to launch from the Brazilian site. The company wants to undercut big payload specialists like billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX by launching so-called microsatellites from small rockets, cutting costs and wait time for clients.
"Our vision is to launch hundreds of Vector rockets into orbit to satisfy the growing market for microsatellites," said Vector Vice President Alex Rodriguez, who made a December visit to Alcantara coordinated by Boeing.
"We are closer to the equator and have an excellent site for launching microsatellites," said Brigadier Luiz Fernando Aguiar, coordinator of the Brazilian Air Force's space program, comparing the Alcantara site with Kourou.
Alcantara has radars, a runway and a seaport to unload equipment, along with plenty of open land to store rockets and build a liquid oxygen plant if needed, he said.
A previous attempt at a U.S.-Brazilian space partnership was scuttled in 2003 when the technology safeguards agreement faced resistance from the leftist government of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and was thwarted by Brazilian lawmakers. The new effort is expected to pass easily in a more conservative Brazilian Congress.
