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The National Space Activities Commission (CONAE) promotes and implements all activities related to the spatial area. Its satellite projets positioning the country among the eight nations in the world capable of satelización own.
The National Space Activities Commission (CONAE) is the government body to promote, manage and carry out all the activities connected to the space area in Argentina. It is a specialized agency, created in 1991, whose main purpose is the proposal and execution of the National Space Program.
Argentine satellites on space
CONAE has defined two different families of satellite missions according to main on-board instruments. The SAC series, with instruments operating in the optical range, and the SAOCOM series, with instruments focused on the microwave spectrum (radar). Three SAC national satellites have already been launched; they have been entirely built in Argentina by Argentine professionals: the SAC-B, the SAC-A and the SAC-C. At present, Earth observing satellites are being built, which go further and enhance the national satellite program´s applications.
What is more, a very important achievement has been accomplished by the launching of the Earth observing satellite SAC-C in 2000. This Argentine satellite captures real time images from everywhere in the national territory and its neighboring countries and reproduces images from the rest of the world in storage mode. The SAC-C´s mission involves monitoring environment and natural disasters .
These technological developments in the space field allow Argentina to handle self-produced key data, vital to national interest areas, such as agriculture (crops assessment and studying). Many others use information provided by the CONAE: emergency management, hydrology, forestry, mining and fishing, for instance.
Over 100 institutions, bodies, universities and Argentine companies take part in the national space activities, working on the National Space Program projects: the National Health Ministry; the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food; CNEA (National Commission of Nuclear Energy); CONICET (National Commission of Technical and Scientific Research) and other national and private universities.
A world-integrated space agency
Argentina holds several partnership agreements with space agencies from other countries, through which CONAE works in joint action projects. Some of the agencies CONAE works with are: AEB-INPE (National Space Research Institute) from Brazil, ASI (Italian Space Agency) from Italy, NASA and NOAA from the USA, CNES (National Space Research Centre) from France, DLR from Germany, ESA from Europe and NSAU from Ukraine.
In 2001, NASA and CONAE created the first Earth observing constellation, called "Morning Constellation", which included EO-1 satellite, Terra, Landsat 7 and Argentine SAC-C (the last two operated until August 2005) and obtained images from all over the world consecutively.
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) and CONAE are developing together the "Italian-Argentine Satellite System for Emergency Management" (SIASGE), which comprises the two Argentine SAOCOM satellites and four Italian satellites with radar and optical instruments. In this way, both countries will be able to obtain accurate information about natural disasters, such as fires, floods, eruptions or earthquakes.
CONAE´s satellite missions
The National Space Program foresees the execution of a set of entirely Argentine satellite missions and other cooperation projects. This program depicts two satellite lines: the SAC series, with Earth observing Argentine instruments focused on the optical range, and the SAOCOM series, with Argentine instruments working in the microwave spectrum. So far, SAC-A, SAC-B and SAC-C have been put into orbit; they were totally built in Argentina, INVAP being its main associate.
Some characteristics of the National Space Program satellites are mentioned below:
Earth observing satellite SAC-C
It was launched on 21st November 2000. It carries three Argentine instruments focused on the optic range and is devoted to observing the environment, monitoring natural and antropic disasters and doing sea, coastline and agricultural research. NASA, as a partner, contributed with the launching services and two instruments for scientific measuring.
Earth observing satellites SAOCOM 1 A and SAOCOM 1 B
They are currently being built. They take microwave range instruments (radar) and its launching is planned from 2011 onwards. The space agencies from Belgium and from Italy take part in this new Argentine development. The SAOCOM satellites together with the radar COSMO Skymed satellites from Italy are integrated in the “Italian-Argentine Satellite System for Emergency Management” (SIASGE), which will provide information about natural disasters: fires, floods, eruptions, earthquakes, etc. This is a proposal different from the purely environmental sector and represents a cutting-edge tool for the Argentine Federal System of Emergencies.
Earth observing satellite SAC-D/Aquarius
It is being built at present and it is expected to be launched in May 2010. It is a joint mission: the Goddard Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from NASA are CONAE´s partners in this satellite. The space agencies from France and Italy also cooperate with the project through scientific instruments. For the first time, this state-of-the-art mission will measure the ocean salinity from space; high- temperature sources will be spotted on the Earth surface (from which maps of fire-risky areas could be drafted) and the soil humidity will be measured as well, to warn about floods at an early stage.
INVAP is a firm of Río Negro Province. Since it was born within the National Atomic Energy Committee (CNEA), in Bariloche city, it is precisely here that its headquarters and most of its activities take place.
