Ecobreves – MEXICO: A Space Agency Is Born

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, May 6 2006 (IPS) - The creation of a space agency in Mexico, approved by the Chamber of Deputies in April, is a laudable goal, but difficult to achieve in the short term, say experts. With presidential elections slated for June, and the subsequent change in government in December, the most likely is that the initiative will not prosper in the short term, Antonio Sánchez, president of the Mexican Association of Planetariums, told Tierramérica.

Creating a Mexican Space Agency — an idea originating from and approved by the lawmakers in a bill that has yet to be passed by the Senate and the president's signature — has come under fire from local scientists, who say they were not consulted and that the plan has several problems.

Sánchez has asked his colleagues to take a close look at the bill to strengthen it if possible, and to organize a front of support. “To have a space agency in Mexico would put us in a technological race that we have only been able to watch, but without support it will not survive.”