Alcântara base to be used to launch South Korean rocket, official says

The South Korean company Innospace will be the first private aerospace company to launch a rocket from the launch center in Alcântara (MA), in northern Brazil, in December, said the president of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), Carlos Moura, this Friday. fair.

The company, which plans to make cheaper small satellite launches accessible from various locations around the world, is still developing its rocket and will test it at an experimental launch from Alcantara, Moura said in an interview.

Brazil hopes to get a share of the market for launching small satellites by offering its base in Alcântara, whose location on the Atlantic coast near the Equator reduces fuel costs because satellites don’t have to travel that far to reach orbit.

The US rocket company Hyperion withdrew from negotiations with Brazil and Innospace took over as the main launch operator at the Alcântara base, managed by the Brazilian Air Force.

Canadian aerospace company C6 Launch Systems, which in 2021 obtained a license to operate in Brazil, plans a launch from Alcântara in 2023. Virginia-based Orion AST, which plans launches with the initial objective of collecting space debris, has made no progress, said Moura.

Virgin Orbit, owned by businessman Richard Branson, also received approval to operate in Brazil and will use Alcântara’s 2.6-kilometer runway for its Boeing 747 to take off and launch rockets that place small satellites in low Earth orbit.