Brazil
and the U.S. signed a technical-safeguards accord permitting U.S.
aerospace companies to be able to launch U.S.-made rockets
carrying U.S. payloads from Brazil. In the past the U.S. and
Brazil have disagreed on the protection of intellectual property
rights across a range of industries. This agreement had to
overcome a number of sensitive legal and technical issues related
to the protection and nonproliferation of rocket technologies.
Under terms of the agreement, "Brazilian personnel will not
have access to the [rocket] technology." The agreement does
not allow U.S. satellites to be launched on Brazilian
rockets.
Yuzhnoye
and FiatAvio are about to sign a cooperative agreement to use the Alcântara
Launch Center to launch Tsiklon 4 rockets and are expected to
soon begin building a launch pad. Orbital Sciences is considering
launching its Taurus rocket from Alcântara as soon as 2001. Talks
have also been reported with LeoLink for the launch of Shavit-derived
LeoLink vehicles. Both the Taurus and the Shavit are operated from
mobile launch platforms and so will not need specific launch pad
facilities.
Brazil
plans to provide
US$23 million (R$40 million)
to Infraero, which operates the Alcântara Launch Center, for
improvements to make the facility available for commercial
launchers. Brazilian
officials estimate
Alcântara
can handle
some 14 launches a year, with Brazil's space agency collecting
US$2 million each. Brazil's Alcântara
launch
site is located three degrees south of the equator in the
northeastern state of Maranhão.
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