The National Satellite System contemplates putting all Chilean satellites into orbit between 2021 and 2025.
A new space era. This is what Defense Minister Baldo Prokurica referred to when announcing the implementation of the National Satellite System, a project that will launch 10 Chilean satellites into space and will also allow access to 250 international devices.
SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk, will be in charge of putting into orbit the constellation of 10 new satellites by 2025, which will replace FASatCharlie, the Chilean satellite that completed its useful life in space more than four years ago.
The project - a joint effort between the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Science and the Air Force - envisages putting into orbit between 2021 and 2024 the Fasat Delta, Fasat Echo 1 and Fasat Echo 2 mini-satellites, each weighing less than 100 kilos. The other seven microsatellites, weighing between 12 and 13 kilos, will be launched as follows: one in 2023, three in 2024 and three in 2025.
In addition, eight of the 10 satellites will be built entirely in Chile, by technicians and engineers belonging to the Air Force and also to several universities in the country.
National Space Center
To operate these satellites, the new National Space Center will be inaugurated next year in Cerrillos. The site will house a laboratory specialized in the manufacture of satellites and payloads, a space entrepreneurship and innovation center, the space mission control center and another center for the analysis and processing of geospatial information.
In addition, monitoring stations will be set up in Antofagasta, Santiago and Punta Arenas to monitor the information transmitted by these satellites, which will provide the country with a wider range of images received more frequently and at a lower cost.
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