SCIENCE-ECUADOR: On the Threshold of the Space Age

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Gabriela Malo

QUITO, Jan 7 1999 (IPS) - A commerical space flight rocket launching station is in the pipeline for Ecuador, with backing from a US company.

Mach 25 Technologies, of Silver Spring, Maryland, says Ecuador the ideal Latin American base for the space tourism project due to its geographical position and altitude, and the proposal is currently being studied by Ecuador’s Jamil Mahuad administration.

The plans propose siting the station on the Cotopaxi volcano, rising 6,000 metres above sea level, although the final decision will depend on environmental and technical feasibility studies still to be carried out.

Cotopaxi, the second highest mountain in Ecuador, is close to Quito where the Minitrack satellite station was established by the US National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) before being passed over to the Ecuadorian State.

The planned platform will be used for the launch, maintenance and supplying of satelllites and space stations, as well as for sending ships to the moon and beyond, and even for tourist trips into space.

Forecasts place the space industry as one of the areas of greatest development over the next 20 years. Several private companies in the United States build space vehicles to order for NASA and for commercial and research projects.

Launches from a high altitude station close to the equator have to counter lower resistence at lift-off. As the performance of motors improves, so does the load capacity of the vehicles, and the general result would be a considerable reduction in costs.

According to Estuardo Salazar, economic director of the Quito Chamber of Trade, the execution of the Mach 25 technologies project will provide Ecuador with important economic and scientific benefits.

The Chamber of Trade called on the government to take advantage of an opportunity which promised large investments.

Not only will jobs be created during the phase of construction of the station and its adjoining administrative facilities, but the installation will also require long-term local maintenance, supplies of matierals and fuels, hangars, communications, transport and other items, stated Salazar.

And then there would be the income from tourism, as the United States, Europe and Japan have a great potential market for trips into space, said Salazar – Japan alone is expected to consume a million journeys per year.

The entrepreneur also said the station would increase national and municipal tax income, along “the transferral of technology and training of Ecuadoran personnel in the space industry.”

Mach 25 identified Indonesia and Kenya as other possible sites for the space platform, and while these bases would be far from the United States, they would be handier for European and Asian users.

And while optimum conditions are offered by Ecuador, Australia, Brazil, French Guyana, or, within the United States, California or Florida, could also be considered.

Various US companies which participated in the NASA Gemini and Apollo projects are building space vehicles for repeated use, some for up to 100 flights.

Two of these companies, Rotary Rockets and Kistler Aerospace, have been in contact with Michael Heney, representative of Mach 25 Technologies, showing interest in working in Ecuador.

Kistler plans to start a commercial space flight service from two launching stations next year, the first 100 kilometers outside Las Vegas, in the United States, and the other in Woomera, in southern Australia.

Heney first made contact with the Ecuadorian government in 1996, when a representative of Mach 25 made several presentations of the project to high ranking officials in the Foreign and Defence Ministries in Quito.

If the Ecuadorian government accepts the proposal, the following steps would be to contract a feasibility study, funded by the World Bank or Interamerican Development Bank, and the formation of a promotion group made up of public and private institutions.

The US company will take charge of the execution and funding of the project.