The Alcântara Space Center, former known as Alcântara Launch Center is a space center and launching facility of the Brazilian Space Agency in the city of Alcântara, located on Brazil's northern Atlantic coast, in the state of Maranhão. It is operated by the Brazilian Air Force. The CEA is the closest launching base to the equator. This gives the launch site a significant advantage in launching geosynchronous satellites, an attribute shared by the Guiana Space Centre.
The Brazilian Space Agency is the civilian authority in Brazil responsible for the country's space program. It operates a spaceport at Alcântara, and a rocket launch site at Barreira do Inferno. It is the largest and most prominent space agency in Latin America.
The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branches were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces" in 1941. Both air branches transferred their equipments, installations and personnel to the new force.
Avibrás Indústria Aeroespacial, based in Jacareí, São José dos Campos, Brazil, is a diversified Brazilian company which designs, develops and manufactures defense products and services. Its range of products encompasses artillery and aircraft defense systems, rockets and missiles such as air-to-ground and surface-to-surface weapon systems, including artillery rocket systems; 70 mm air-to-ground systems and fiber optic multi-purpose guided missiles. It makes armoured vehicles as well. It also manufactures civilian transportation through a division called Tectran, telecommunications equipment, electronic industrial equipment (Powertronics), automotive painting and explosives. DefendTex of Australia with possibility to buy the brazilian Defence Company, with a debt of more than R$600 million or some € 80 million, in which R$ 14.5 million is debt with workers.
The Brazilian Department of Science and Aerospace Technology is the national military research center for aviation and space flight. It is subordinated to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
Ozires Silva is a Brazilian entrepreneur who is the founder of Embraer.
The VLS-1 was the Brazilian Space Agency's main satellite launch vehicle. The launch vehicle would have been capable of launching satellites into orbit. The launch site was located at the Alcântara Launch Center due to its proximity to the equator.
The MAA-1 Piranha is a short-range infrared homing missile and the first air-to-air missile developed by Brazil for its Air Force and Navy. It was designed to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile in Brazilian service and has since been exported to Colombia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
The VS-30 is a Brazilian sounding rocket, developed by the Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço and derived from the Sonda 3 sounding rocket first stage. It consists of a single, solid-fuelled stage, and has been launched from Alcântara, Maranhão and Barreira do Inferno, Rio Grande do Norte, in Brazil, and Andøya and Svalbard Rocket Range in Norway.
The VS-40 is a Brazilian sounding rocket using solid fuel and stabilized aerodynamically.
National Anti-Ship Missile also named AV-RE40 —previously known as MAN-1—is a US$75 million anti-ship missile project under development by Avibras, Mectron, Atech and Omnisys for the Brazilian Navy. The design aims to achieve performance similar to MBDA MM40 Exocet Block II. It is expected to begin field tests in 2017, and should begin production around late 2018 or early 2019.
SARA - Satélite de Reentrada Atmosférica is a Brazilian satellite project, with the objective of performing experiments in microgravity environment and returning them to the Earth.
The VLM is a proposed three-stage satellite launcher being developed by the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology in collaboration with Germany. The project originated in 2008 as a simplified version of the VLS-1 rocket, using only the core stages. The first launch is currently planned for no earlier than 2027.
The VS-15 is a Brazilian sounding rocket. It consists of a single, liquid fuel recoverable stage, based on the new L-15 engine . It would mainly qualify the L-15 engine in flight. The engine development project was canceled in 2013.
Trocano (tɾoˈkɐnu) is a Brazilian thermobaric weapon similar in design to the United States' MOAB weapon or Russia's FOAB. Like the US weapon, the Trocano is designed to be pallet-loaded into a C-130 Hercules - "Hércules" (ˈɛʁkuleʃ) - aircraft, and deployed using a parachute to drag it from the C-130's cargo bay and separate from its pallet, at which point the bomb's own aerodynamics determine its drop trajectory.
Tancredo-1 was a Brazilian picosatellite. It was a TubeSat which was developed by the students from the school Tancredo Almeida Neves, in Ubatuba (SP), with support for the picosat platform made by Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), adapting and integration to launch provided by TuPOD from Italian company GAUSS Srl and by Agência Espacial Brasileira (AEB).
The Missão Centenário was born of an agreement between the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the Roscosmos on October 18, 2005. The main objective of this treaty would be to send the first Brazilian into space, Lt. Col. Aviator Marcos Pontes.
The Institute of Aeronautics and Space is a military research organization of the Brazilian Air Force's Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), founded on 1 January 1954.
VLS-1 V01 was the first launch of the VLS-1 rocket that took place on November 2, 1997, from the Alcântara Launch Center with the goal of putting the SCD-2A satellite into orbit. The launch was unsuccessful, with the rocket being remotely destroyed due to deviation from its trajectory.
