Latin American countries with space programs: colleagues or competitors?

Air & Space Power Journal, Fall, 2003 by Robert D. Newberry

Level Two: Material Participants

Argentina and Chile are both capable of developing small satellites but have to team with other countries to undertake larger-scale space programs. Both nations are more fiscally constrained in their space spending than the level-three countries and do not have compelling national-security or economic interests that would drive a dedicated or more robust space program. Since their participation in space programs is not downward-directed, based on government priorities, they have been free to participate in a wide variety of programs without having to commit to the long-term operation of any particular system. Both Argentina and Chile, therefore, have pursued a strategy of breadth over depth, emphasizing the development of their intellectual capital over specific hardware.

Argentina's Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) had ambitious space-development plans prior to the devaluation of the Argentine peso in January 2002. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Argentina was developing an indigenous rocket program called the Condor, which had space-technology applications. The Condor raised significant concerns in the United States due to its violation of the MTCR and the potential for technology transfer to Iraq. (20) As did Brazil, Argentina eventually concluded that its interests would be better served by cooperating with the United States on the MTCR. Thus, in 1995 Argentina joined the pact, cancelled the Condor program, and began pursuing a space program with the goal of integrating with the Brazilian program. (21) Over time, Argentina developed contacts with other countries and joined an AMSAT program, entering into a codevelopment program with Chile, Spain, and Brazil for the Cesar satellite, which has agricultural, water-management, and environmental-monitoring applications. (22) Argentina has also signed an intergovernmental agreement with China for bilateral space cooperation. (23)

This competitive stance changed somewhat in 1998 after President Bill Clinton named Argentina the only "major non-NATO ally" in Latin America. (24) CONAE had already participated with NASA in the development of the Satellite de Aplicaciones Cienfifico (SAC) microsatellites as a space-research project. (25) As Argentina continues to seek closer military ties with the United States, mainly through peacekeeping operations, its space program now appears more cooperative with that of the United States. Its plans to develop the Satellites for Observation and Communications (SAOCOM)-1A radar satellite include Italy--another NATO ally of the United States. (26) Also, the United States views the launch of Latinsat-A and -B by Aprize Satellite in 2002 as a commercial endeavor with no national-security implications. (27) One reason the Argentine space program is now perceived as more pro-United States is that most funding for programs with US competitors has largely stopped as a result of the government's fiscal crisis and lingering economic problems. Considering its continuing links to competing, non-US space programs, one can consider Argentina both a US colleague and competitor.