RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Paraguay, attempting to start its own space exploration program, will launch its first satellite, Guaranisat-1, today from the United States’ Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The satellite was developed in collaboration with the Paraguayan Space Agency (AEP) and the Kyushu Technological Institute in Japan. The satellite will assist in the monitoring of natural disasters in Paraguay, including floods and fires. The cost, approximately $400,000, is expected to dwarf the benefits that the development of a nascent space sector could have on the economy. However, the AEP has signaled that this is the first step in the development of space capacities in the country.
Participation in the Guaranisat-1 project has already had a “domino effect,” the head of planning for the Paraguay Space Agency (AEP), Jorge Kurita, said during a press conference in Asuncion, pointing to “the creation of research teams and groups in the space sector, applied to solving terrestrial problems.”
The Guaranisat-1 is based on the CubeSat, a miniaturized satellite for space research that is made up of multiple cubic modules of 10cm×10cm×10cm.
Paraguay’s investment in its satellite and space capability is part of a longer-term bet that the industry could develop into a sector with additional opportunities for economic growth and employment. Two stations, designed to receive information from the satellite, have already been built in the country. The information is likely to be used to increase capacities in the agricultural sector and to respond to the changing demands of climate change.
After the launch, the AEP’s Roman said, Guaranisat-1 will dock at the International Space Station, where it is to remain until it is “placed in orbit using a robotic arm in March or April and begins the test period.”
Paraguay has built two ground stations to receive data from Guaranisat-1: one in the Asuncion suburb of San Lorenzo, the other in the far-western Chaco region.