Brazil's first satellite is due to be launched within the "the next few months" aboard the Veiculo Lancador de Satellites (VLS), says the country's president Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
The three-stage, solid-propellant VLS vehicle, with four strap-on boosters, will place a national environmental data collection satellite into low-Earth orbit (LEO).
The VLS, which can place 200kg into a 1,000km orbit and 300kg into LEO, will undergo four demonstration flights from the national Alcantara launch centre before being declared operational.
To prepare for the launch a sub-orbital Sonda 4 rocket, on which the VLS is based, was launched on 27 August to check out the launch team and tracking stations.
Source: Flight International