Colombian authorities are determined to move into space development. They have begun to take advantage of the data they collect in intelligence, cartography, climate, agriculture, airspace, and ground security.
In the future, Colombia will seek to establish its space agency.
For now, the Colombian Air Force (FAC) has launched the Space Operations Center (SpOC) at the Marco Fidel Suárez Military Aviation Academy in Cali, in the department of Valle del Cauca.
“This aerospace center is a strategic step for the FAC because it will allow us to perform space weather analysis, orbit planning, simulation, and space collision calculations,” said Lt. Col. Guillermo Poveda, head of the FAC Space Operations Department.
“In addition, we will be able to perform Colombian satellites’ management, operation, programming, and maintenance. We are now the second center in Latin America, the first being the Brazilian Space Control Center.”
The Colombian Air Force Space Control Center will provide analysis of geospatial Earth observation information and Big Data.
The SpOC, inaugurated July 28, has a design inspired by CubeSat satellites and features state-of-the-art equipment for command, control, and execution of space operations, the FAC said in a statement.
Furthermore, this new strategic satellite will facilitate geospatial Earth observation data analysis and other applications by integrating data processing.
Additionally, the FAC announced via Twitter will enable continuous monitoring of the country’s environment, artificial threats, and natural resources.
Currently, the military subunit has one satellite (FACSAT-1) and announced plans to put a second satellite into orbit by 2023: FACSAT-2 Chiribiquete, in honor of the Chiribiquete National Natural Park, located in the Colombian Amazon in the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare.
The satellite will collect information to protect the country’s environment, among other things.
FUTURE IN SPACE
In light of this progress, the Colombian space community is optimistic about the future and positive about the possible next steps.
The Colombian chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based nongovernmental organization National Space Society (NSS) stresses the importance of creating the Colombian Space Agency to promote the development of a space policy and program.
For NSS Colombia, space development is a cross-cutting issue that involves much more than rockets, satellites, or astronauts.
Accordingly, the first thing Colombia must do as part of its space program is to develop national capabilities for Earth observation satellites and answer the question of telecommunications satellites.
On September 20, the FAC announced that an initial group of researchers at the Analog Astronaut Training Center (AATC) in Poland had conducted an analog mission, i.e., a simulation of a space mission, in a habitat with lunar-like conditions.
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