Brazilian Space Chief Says Nations Should Think Long-Term, Keep Space Out of Geopolitics

Countries should think long-term about space cooperation, as there are many things on which they could work together regardless of geopolitical tensions, Carlos Moura, the president of the Brazilian Space Agency, told Sputnik.

"I believe that, especially in space, we should think long term cooperation, scientific cooperation," Moura said on the sidelines of the Space Symposium. "There are some fields where we can work together, for example, to study the space weather, some other things, it is something that you can do aside from the geopolitical problems."

When asked whether Russian sanctions in connection with the Ukraine war had had any impact on cooperation between the two countries in space, Moura stated: "Not for the moment."

Russia and other countries should work together on maintaining the International Space Station (ISS) or possibly constructing another station in the future, Carlos Moura said.

"I believe that they will extend the life of the ISS a little bit, but from 2030 [onward], I don't know," Moura said when asked about the future of the station. "But I believe that for Russia and other countries, we should work together. So I hope that we will have the ISS or something like it."

Brazilian Space Agency President Carlos Moura said that he is hopeful that his country's politicians will invest more in ambitious space-related projects as they realize the great importance of space.

Asked whether Brazil plans to send astronauts in space, Moura said, "We would like to."

Moura explained that he is frequently asked, especially by young people, whether Brazil will have another astronaut in space.

"Unfortunately, due to the costs, we don't have such plans at the moment," he said." But I hope that in the near future, Brazil's politicians will understand that space is very, very important for us. And then we'll have more resources to invest in more ambitious projects."

When asked about Brazil's participation in a possible future space station project, Moura pointed out that it is hard to say whether Brazil would participate in it, but it certainly would like to be a member or otherwise contribute.

"The problem is that for the moment, our economy is so tight that we do not have the capability to invest in levers like that. But certainly, we'd like to participate as a user, as a scientific contributor," he said.

The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) would like to resume education courses with Russia, believing that the two countries have many capabilities to share, AEB President Carlos Moura told Sputnik on the sidelines of the Space Symposium.

"We were planning how we can restart the education courses with Russia because some years ago, some special institutions in Russia, for example, MAI, Moscow Aviation Institute, they helped us on the design review of our small satellites," Moura said. "So it's something maybe we can restart because we have a lot of capabilities, so it's good for us to exchange."

Moura went on to say that while there are no joint projects between Brazil and Russia, they are cooperating on ground stations for GLONASS. "Russia has four stations in Brazil, they are installed in universities," he explained. "That's the unique cooperation we have."

In addition, BRICS has an agreement on a virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites, the space chief said.

Moura spoke on the sidelines of the 37th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, which brings together representatives of the world's space agencies, commercial space businesses as well as military, national security and intelligence agencies to discuss and plan the future of space exploration.

Source: RIA Novosti

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