SCD
These 1m-high, eight-sided, 115kg satellites are designed to provide real-time data from environmental data-collection stations, of which more than 250 are planned. A key area being monitored for temperature, moisture, carbon dioxide and ozone is the Amazon River basin and the rain forests. The SCD 1, costing $20 million, was launched on an Orbital Sciences Pegasus booster for $11.5 million. The SCD 2 and a larger SCD 3 are planned. These may be launched on the VLS.
SSR
Two 170kg Satelites de Sensoriamento Remoto (SSRs) were part of the original MECB plan. They incorporate a 10kg charged-coupled-device camera, capable of returning 200m-resolution images. The SSR 1 and 2 are planned to fly in 640km-high, 98¡ Sun-synchronous orbits after 1996, presumably aboard the VLS.
CBERS
The China/Brazil Earth-resources satellite is designed to carry cameras to return images with a resolution down to 20m. The commercial venture will begin with the launch of the CBERS 1 on a Chinese Long March 4 in 1996. The project will cost Brazil $45 million. A second CBERS is planned for 1998/9. The CBERS will be flown with a small science satellite developed by INPE. One of the CBERS cameras, an infra-red unit, will be flown and tested aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission in 1996.
ALCANTARA
Alcantara, near Sao Luis, has been used by sub-orbital sounding rockets. NASA and Brazil completed 33 rocket launches, to study the upper atmosphere in 1994. As a site so close to the equator, Alcantara is seen as a potential base for launches of geostationary-orbit satellites. The possibility of Proton launches has been discussed with Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International.
VLS
The indigenous national satellite launcher was originally planned to have its first flight in about 1985, but its development has been delayed - largely through the imposition of the MTCR. In a move to overcome this obstacle and free Brazil to purchase essential technology, particularly guidance systems, Brazil has agreed to join the MTCR. The country, however, has been purchasing "black-market" state-of-the-art technology, including micro-electronics, from Russia and other countries. "We even wanted to import a complete internal platform, but the USA did not allow us to," says VLS project manager Col Thiago Ribeiro. The 19m-high all-solid-propellant vehicle, based on the Sonda 4 national sounding rocket, consists of three stages and four strap-on motors. It can place 200kg into a 750km, 25° orbit or a 500km Sun-synchronous orbit. The first launch is now planned for about June 1996, from Alcantara.
Source: Flight International
