Country resumes development of new family of rockets
Valor Econômico
The development of new generation of satellite launchers in Brazil will be shortly resumed. The Brazilian Institute of Aeronautics and Space (EAI), an agency of the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), waits for the receipt of technical reports (outline design) of the VLS Alfa rocket, the first vehicle of new family of launchers of the Cruzeiro do Sul program, in the next two months.
The document was prepared by the Russian State Rocket Center, also known as the Academician V.P. Makeev Design Bureau. The Cruzeiro do Sul foresees investments of US$ 750 million (figures of 2004) for the construction of 5 rockets in 17 years, with the purpose of catering to the Brazilian demands in the area space transportation.
The VLS-1, according to the Director of the IAE, Colonel Francisco Carlos Melo Pantoja, has a budget that ranges from R$ 30 million (US$ 16.7 million) to R$ 35 million (US$ 19.4 million) in 2010. The rocket launching tower that is being built in Alcântara, by the Jaraguá-Lavitta consortium, should be ready at the end of this year. The investment foreseen in the project amounts to R$ 43 million (US$ 23.9 million).
Some items of the rocket are being nationalized so that Brazil has more autonomy in the development of its program of launchers. An example is the inertial navigation system, used in the control of the rocket trajectory in space and in the stabilization of satellites in orbit. The project, named SIA, which stands for Inertial Navigation Systems for Aerospace Application has an estimated cost of R$ 40 million (US$ 22.2 million) and is being financed by the Studies and Projects Financing Agency (Finep). Besides the navigation system, Brazil currently has full domain of the rocket propulsion system as well as of a great deal of the materials used in its structure.
The first vehicle of the Cruzeiro do Sul Program, Alfa, will also introduce the use of the liquid propulsion technology that Brazil is getting ready to control. The IAE has put up a Liquid Propulsion Laboratory, which is a reference in South America and the DCTA has formed from 15 to 20 specialists in such technology a year, in partnership with the Russian Moscow Aviation Institute.