Both countries plan to sign a memorandum of understanding during Russian President Vladimir Putin's scheduled visit to Brazil in late November. The memorandum calls for the joint development and production of launch vehicles, the launch of geostationary satellites and the joint development and utilization of Brazil's Alcantara Launch Center, an AEB officials said.

In addition, during Putin's visit both countries are expected to finalize negotiations on a financial package for the implementation of such joint projects, the official added.

Russian participation in the development of Brazil's rockets or utilization of Alcantara would mark a significant milestone in the global commercial space community.

If joint development and utilization means the Russians plan to launch any of their rockets from Alcantara, that would be only the second time a Russian launcher would lift off from a spaceport other than Baikonur in Kazakhstan, or Plesetsk, both former Soviet launch centers currently utilized by the Russians.

Preliminary discussions concerning the memorandum took place in Moscow last week. Participants included Jose Alencar, Brazil's vice president; Mikhail Fradkov, the Russian prime minister; Sergio Gaudenzi, president of AEB, and Anatoliy Perminov, head of FKA, Russia's new Federal Space Agency.

FKA was created six months ago as a result of administrative reform in the country's space program, the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda reported. Perminov formerly was first commander of Russia's Space Forces.

Brazilian space officials said the proposed memorandum expands two existing scientific agreements between the countries. The first agreement was called The Cooperative Use and Research of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes and the second was Basic Cooperation in Science, Technology, and Technical Areas. The countries signed both agreements in November 1997.

Russia's direct involvement in Brazil's space program accelerated following the explosion of Brazil's VLS rocket at Alcantara in August 2003. At that time, Russian space officials were invited to participate in the investigation to determine the cause of the explosion, which killed 21.

Last September, AEB awarded a contract to the Russian firm KBTM for specific technical assistance in rebuilding the launch tower destroyed in the VLS explosion, according the Brazilian newspaper, Gazeta Mercantil.

The newspaper reported the new VLS launch tower is being built with the provision for the future use of liquid-fuel rocket propellants, advanced technology, which the Brazilians do not yet possess, but which is being studied with the Russians to be incorporated into one of the future versions of the Brazilian VLS rocket.

KBTM, otherwise known as the Transport Engineering Design Bureau, is part of FKA.

Signing the memorandum with the Brazilians will put the Russians just a few steps behind the Ukrainians, who already have established bilateral agreements with AEB for space cooperation. Such agreements are a necessary prerequisite for joint commercial space activities between the two countries.

Last month, Brazil's Congress approved a commercial treaty with Ukraine that paves the way for a joint-venture company to build launch facilities in Alcantara for the Ukrainian Cyclone-4 rocket.

In 2007, the Europeans and Russians plan to begin launching Russian Soyuz rockets from the European Space Agency's Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, just a few hundred miles north of Alcantara. Both launch centers are situated near the equator, making them the best global locations to launch telecommunications satellites.

In addition to building payload-integration and other facilities for lofting commercial satellites, the Russians and Europeans also plan to build installations that would allow sending human crews aboard their Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station from French Guiana.

According to ESA's Web site, The (Soyuz) launch infrastructure has been designed to ensure that it can be smoothly adapted for human spaceflight, should this be decided upon.

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