The National Satellite System involves putting all the Chilean satellites into orbit between 2021 and 2025.
“A new era for space” is how Defense Minister Baldo Prokurica described the implementation of the National Satellite System, a project that involves launching 10 Chilean satellites into space and that will also make it possible to access 250 international devices.
SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk, will be in charge of putting the constellation of 10 new satellites into orbit by 2025. They will replace FASat-Charlie, the Chilean satellite, which completed its lifespan more than four years ago.
The project, which has been jointly developed by the Defense Ministry, the Science Ministry and the Air Force, entails putting the Fasat Delta, Fasat Echo 1 and Fasat Echo 2 mini-satellites into orbit between 2021 and 2024, each weighing less than 100 kilos. The other seven micro-satellites, weighing between 12 and 13 kilos, will be launched as follows: one in 2023, three in 2024 and three in 2025.
Furthermore, eight of the 10 satellites will be built entirely in Chile, by technicians and engineers of the Air Force and various Chilean universities.
National Space Center
The new National Space Center that will operate these satellites will be inaugurated next year in the Santiago district of Cerrillos. The site will house a laboratory that specializes in the manufacture of satellites and payloads, a space entrepreneurship and innovation center, the space mission control center and another center that will analyze and process geospatial information.
Monitoring stations for the information transmitted by the satellites will also be built in Antofagasta, Santiago and Punta Arenas, which will allow Chile to receive a greater range of images more frequently and at a lower cost.
