Space Operations Center (Brazil)
| Space Operations Center | |
|---|---|
Centro de Operações Espaciais | |
| Brasília, DF in Brazil | |
 COPE in 2020 | |
 | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Space control center |
| Owner | Aerospace Operations Command |
| Controlled by |  Brazilian Air Force |
| Open to the public | No |
| Site history | |
| In use | 2020-present |
| Sources:[1] | |
The Space Operations Center (Portuguese: Centro de Operações Espaciais - COPE) is a facility in Brasília operated by the Aerospace Operations Command to control and oversee the Brazilian satellites and other space activities. COMAE and its subordinate COPE facility is a permanent Brazilian armed forces joint command that includes both Army and Navy personnel. The center supports a geosynchronous communications satellite and two imaging satellites in low earth orbit.[2]
History and mission
The COPE was inaugurated on 23 June 2020 by President Jair Bolsonaro.[3] The main mission of the facility is the operation and control the SGDCs satellites in partnership with Telebras.[3] Other space activities will be conducted from the COPE as part of the Brazilian Space Agency operations.[4]
In 2023, Brazil space advocates began developing proposals for installation of a space collision monitoring and analysis center to support Brazil's space autonomy.[5]
In April 2024, the commanders of U.S.Space Command and the Brazil Space Operations Center signed a memorandum of agreement to assign a liaison officer to USSPACECOM to provide Brazilian armed forces expertise and further USSPACECOM-Brazil cooperation in the military space arena.[6]
References
- ^ "COMAE". Brazilian Air Force (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 July 2021.
- ^ Cook, Geraldine (24 February 2023). "Brazil's Space Operations Center in Orbit to the Future". dialogo-americas.com. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Cerimônia marca inauguração das instalações do Centro de Operações Espaciais". Brazilian Air Force (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 June 2020.
- ^ Andrade, Israel de Oliveira; Vital, José Vagner; Okado, Giovanni Hideki Chinaglia; Hillebrand, Giovanni Roriz Lyra (2021). "The Brazilian Strategic Space Systems Program (PESE): Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Perspectives" (PDF). Journal of the Americas, Third Edition. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ Alves de Oliveira, Luis Fellipe; Silva, William Reis (2023). "The importance of installing a collision monitoring and analysis center for Brazil's space autonomy" (PDF). 2nd Orbital Debris Conf. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "USSPACECOM advances space partnerships in South America as part of Space Symposium 39 international engagements". U.S. Space Command. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2025.